diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4258ee02c0b5d..6418fd9d5a35e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 - Fix pull-based ingestion out-of-bounds offset scenarios and remove persisted offsets ([#19607](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/19607))
 - [Star Tree] Fix sub-aggregator casting for search with profile=true ([19652](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/19652))
 - Fix issue with updating core with a patch number other than 0 ([#19377](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/19377))
+- Fix bwc @timestamp upgrade issue by adding a version check on skip_list param ([19670](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/19670))
 
 ### Dependencies
 - Update to Gradle 9.1 ([#19575](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/19575))
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/DateFieldMapper.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/DateFieldMapper.java
index d7b199fb1702c..25f22838b7bb8 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/DateFieldMapper.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/DateFieldMapper.java
@@ -852,14 +852,15 @@ protected void parseCreateField(ParseContext context) throws IOException {
     }
 
     boolean isSkiplistDefaultEnabled(IndexSortConfig indexSortConfig, String fieldName) {
-        if (!isSkiplistConfigured) {
-            if (indexSortConfig.hasPrimarySortOnField(fieldName)) {
-                return true;
-            }
-            if (DataStreamFieldMapper.Defaults.TIMESTAMP_FIELD.getName().equals(fieldName)) {
-                return true;
+        if (this.indexCreatedVersion.onOrAfter(Version.V_3_3_0)) {
+            if (!isSkiplistConfigured) {
+                if (indexSortConfig.hasPrimarySortOnField(fieldName)) {
+                    return true;
+                }
+                if (DataStreamFieldMapper.Defaults.TIMESTAMP_FIELD.getName().equals(fieldName)) {
+                    return true;
+                }
             }
-
         }
         return false;
     }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/DateFieldMapperTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/DateFieldMapperTests.java
index 551fbd89e4e87..bf3d2975244c4 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/DateFieldMapperTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/DateFieldMapperTests.java
@@ -869,16 +869,25 @@ public void testSkipListIntegrationMappingDefinitionSerialization() throws IOExc
 
     public void testIsSkiplistDefaultEnabled() throws IOException {
         DocumentMapper mapper = createDocumentMapper(fieldMapping(b -> b.field("type", "date")));
+        testIsSkiplistEnabled(mapper, true);
+
+    }
+
+    public void testIsSkiplistDefaultDisabledInOlderVersions() throws IOException {
+        DocumentMapper mapper = createDocumentMapper(Version.V_3_2_0, fieldMapping(b -> b.field("type", "date")));
+        testIsSkiplistEnabled(mapper, false);
+    }
+
+    private void testIsSkiplistEnabled(DocumentMapper mapper, boolean expectedValue) throws IOException {
         DateFieldMapper dateFieldMapper = (DateFieldMapper) mapper.mappers().getMapper("field");
 
         // Test with no index sort and non-timestamp field
         IndexMetadata noSortindexMetadata = new IndexMetadata.Builder("index").settings(getIndexSettings()).build();
-        IndexSettings noSolrIndexSettings = new IndexSettings(noSortindexMetadata, getIndexSettings());
         IndexSortConfig noSortConfig = new IndexSortConfig(new IndexSettings(noSortindexMetadata, getIndexSettings()));
         assertFalse(dateFieldMapper.isSkiplistDefaultEnabled(noSortConfig, "field"));
 
         // timestamp field
-        assertTrue(dateFieldMapper.isSkiplistDefaultEnabled(noSortConfig, "@timestamp"));
+        assertEquals(expectedValue, dateFieldMapper.isSkiplistDefaultEnabled(noSortConfig, "@timestamp"));
 
         // Create index settings with an index sort.
         Settings settings = Settings.builder()
@@ -892,10 +901,12 @@ public void testIsSkiplistDefaultEnabled() throws IOException {
         IndexMetadata indexMetadata = new IndexMetadata.Builder("index").settings(settings).build();
         IndexSettings indexSettings = new IndexSettings(indexMetadata, settings);
         IndexSortConfig sortConfig = new IndexSortConfig(indexSettings);
-        assertTrue(dateFieldMapper.isSkiplistDefaultEnabled(sortConfig, "field"));
-        assertTrue(dateFieldMapper.isSkiplistDefaultEnabled(sortConfig, "@timestamp"));
+        assertEquals(expectedValue, dateFieldMapper.isSkiplistDefaultEnabled(sortConfig, "field"));
+        assertEquals(expectedValue, dateFieldMapper.isSkiplistDefaultEnabled(sortConfig, "@timestamp"));
     }
 
+
+
     public void testSkipListIntegrationFieldBehaviorConsistency() throws IOException {
         // Test that field behavior is consistent between skip_list enabled and disabled