diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/joda/Joda.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/joda/Joda.java
index 5f1ffb4207b..174fe22e15b 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/joda/Joda.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/joda/Joda.java
@@ -275,9 +275,9 @@ public class Joda {
                 .toFormatter()
                 .withZoneUTC();
 
-        DateTimeFormatterBuilder builder = new DateTimeFormatterBuilder().append(longFormatter.withZone(DateTimeZone.UTC).getPrinter(), new DateTimeParser[] {longFormatter.getParser(), shortFormatter.getParser()});
+        DateTimeFormatterBuilder builder = new DateTimeFormatterBuilder().append(longFormatter.withZone(DateTimeZone.UTC).getPrinter(), new DateTimeParser[]{longFormatter.getParser(), shortFormatter.getParser(), new EpochTimeParser(true)});
 
-        return new FormatDateTimeFormatter("yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss||yyyy/MM/dd", builder.toFormatter().withZone(DateTimeZone.UTC), Locale.ROOT);
+        return new FormatDateTimeFormatter("yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss||yyyy/MM/dd||epoch_millis", builder.toFormatter().withZone(DateTimeZone.UTC), Locale.ROOT);
     }
 
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/date/SimpleDateMappingTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/date/SimpleDateMappingTests.java
index aacf34b7ba8..fb67401e334 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/date/SimpleDateMappingTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/date/SimpleDateMappingTests.java
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ public class SimpleDateMappingTests extends ESSingleNodeTestCase {
 
         FieldMapper fieldMapper = defaultMapper.mappers().smartNameFieldMapper("date_field1");
         assertThat(fieldMapper, instanceOf(DateFieldMapper.class));
+        DateFieldMapper dateFieldMapper = (DateFieldMapper)fieldMapper;
+        assertEquals("yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss||yyyy/MM/dd||epoch_millis", dateFieldMapper.fieldType().dateTimeFormatter().format());
+        assertEquals(1265587200000L, dateFieldMapper.fieldType().dateTimeFormatter().parser().parseMillis("1265587200000"));
         fieldMapper = defaultMapper.mappers().smartNameFieldMapper("date_field2");
         assertThat(fieldMapper, instanceOf(DateFieldMapper.class));