The importance of this site is the presence of the Ifugao people and culture as the first inhabitants in the valley, who also represent one of the major indigenous Filipino societies for rice cultivation.

[1] Artifacts found at this site suggest a strong influence of Christianity, mortuary rituals, and a system that defined social status according to the accumulation of various beads and ceramics.

As evident in various studies conducted at the Old Kiyyangan Village site and on the Ifugao people themselves, they were believed to have strong relationships with the dead, believed in several Deities with the Sun God as one of the main ones they worshipped, were a socially stratified and centralized society based on agricultural practices, and are known for being successfully resilient after Spanish colonization not only for maintaining the ability to preserve and develop their culture, but for establishing and developing a strong intra- and inter-regional trade of luxury items, trade ware, ceramics, and raw materials.

The Ifugao's relationship with their Deities was mainly fear-based worship and worked on a process of sacrificial rituals where the Ifugao would make specific offerings their Deities may want in order to keep their lives free of evil; they would perform similar actions with dead ancestors, but were less fearful of their ancestors and performed rituals and sacrifices in veneration to keep a close connection to them and to guarantee their peace on earth and in afterlife.

Though this burial ritual changed to a west-east axis after Spanish colonization because Christian teachings believed the dead should face the rising sun in order to be reborn in a new life.

[2] These traditions start with washing the members who become deceased for purity, followed by dressing and wrapping their bodies in cloth materials or textiles, and including any of the individual's personal possessions like ceramics, glass or stone beads upon the grave.

A study conducted by the Ifugao Archaeological Project (IAP) researched sixteen trenches of neonate burials where children were typically buried directly underneath homes.

[5] There is evidence to suggest that the Ifugao people did have a social hierarchy based on kinship ties and agriculture, in contrast to other Filipino polities during this period that were more commonly hierarchical chiefdoms.

The prevalence of glass beads that were excavated at this site among various burials suggests that these were more common among the average member of the OKV, relating to the social status of men, women, and children.

[6] Research conducted by Stephen Acabado indicates that the Ifugao's complex agricultural and irrigation system contributed to their social structure that led to them having more centralized power rather than a chiefdom or kingdom.

He explains how the physical intensity of rice cultivation in the terraces led to needing a more cooperative working and lifestyle for the Ifugao, arguing that their agricultural system actually became the basis of how they socialized and structured themselves.

[8] More research by Acabado also found the massive rice terraces to have been built within a two-to-three hundred year period, suggesting the Ifugao had already established a complex socio-political structure.

The study analyzed presence of pollen, phytolith, and starch in the terraces, concluding that rice was present during the Ifugao's occupation of the site and was cultivated around 810-750 cal.

[10] Before and after Spanish colonization, the Ifugao people surprisingly flourished in an unexpected rise in economic intensification and position in regional and global trade.

[11] The Old Kiyyangan Village is significant in regards to the history of the Philippines in the opposition to Spanish colonialism to continue the practices of the Ifugao culture and maintain the use of rice terraces for generations to be built upon in strengthening the community.