The NWSY has played an essential role in the protection of Kiskiak. Kiskiak is unique for a Virginia archaeological site because it has not been disturbed by plowing. Much of the soil in Tidewater Virginia has been used for some kind of agriculture within the past 400 years, and the plows used to cultivate the land often destroyed the archaeological context for up to a foot of soil. When plows turn over soil, any artifacts in the top layers get churned up and rearranged. Plowing near Kiskiak stopped when the NWSY was built in 1917, meaning that this land has been preserved since then. The NWSY is an important site for testing Navy weapons, as its name suggests, but the Kiskiak site is on a residential area of the base. Although this area might seem quiet now, with the help of the archaeological record we can image what the town looked like when 150 Native American people lived there in a thriving community.