In that thesis paper the guy focused on Charleston, but had examples of the Romans using iron tie rods from way back when!
Some of the guys who drive and narrate the horse-drawn carriage tours in Charleston do a good job of explaining those tie-bolts -- and the history associated with them.
I undertand those tie-bolts were helpful later, when the big Union "Swamp Angel" cannon was pounding Charleston from across the Ashley River arm of Charleston Harbor during the Civil War...