More recent archaeological studies of the site have concluded that it was constructed as a burial mound by people of the Adena culture in the final centuries before Christ. While the mound has never been scientifically excavated, its great size suggests that its construction took place over an extended period of time, leading archaeologists to conclude that it may contain evidence of multiple stages of Adena society as well as in the mortuary traditions practiced on those buried in the mound. The Pollock Works occupy a high promontory above the southern side of Massies Creek: both the northern and southern sides are the steep limestone walls, here averaging in height, from which the name of "Cliffs" was derived. Although occasional fissures pierce the cliff, permitting access through the old creek channel on the promontory's southern side, only via an isthmus on the western side is the promontory easily accessible, due to its gentle slope. The area of the promontory is approximately . Across the isthmus are the remnants of small crescent-shaped earthworks and an artificial wall, which in the 1840s measured thick at the base and high; it is pierced by three small gateways, at each of which was originally located a stone mound. Due to its comparatively inaccessible location, Squier and Davis proposed in their "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley" that the site was a fortification at which a simple palisade could render the promontory impregnable. The works were discovered soon after Greene County was settled in the early nineteenth century and first made known to outsiders by Squier and Davis. In the 1910s, they were believed to have been the work of the Fort Ancient people, who were "totally different from the higher culture [Hopewell] of the Scioto valley", and who would in times of danger retreat to the isolated Fort Ancient site. It was one of eighty-four archaeological sites observed in 1914 by William C. Mills' countywide archaeological survey, which deemed the Pollock Works the county's premier site. Scientific excavations under a Wright State University archaeologist have demonstrated that the Pollock Works were built by the Hopewell in a five-stage process that started in the first century after Christ. It appears that Squier and Davis correctly ascertained the defensive capabilities of the site; at some point in its history, a palisade stretched across the isthmus, although it was destroyed by fire and later buried by a fresh layer of earth. Although the site was seemingly employed as a hill fort for part of its history, it appears to have been a religious location and one of numerous Hopewell hilltop ceremonial sites.