Between the Bricks: Making mortar visible in the archaeological record of Chatham and Effingham Counties, Georgia from 1830 to 1930.

The research presented in this thesis originated in a general interest in lime mortar and its use in the southeastern United States. Preliminary document-based research on this topic revealed that a greater variety of mortar materials were used in the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries. As the use of these materials was confirmed in the field, the potential limitations of existing building conservation literature on historic mortars became apparent. This led to research that investigated the full range of historic mortar materials and assessed their potential cultural significance. Through a case study investigating the historic mortars of Chatham and Effingham Counties in coastal Georgia between 1830 and 1930, this thesis assessed a wide variety of issues surrounding the understanding of historic mortar materials, the contributions that they can make to historical archaeology and building conservation in the United States.

The study area was selected, because it had relatively uniform geological and geographical conditions, but a significant amount of cultural diversity. This particular combination of characteristics emphasised the possible cultural factors that influenced historic mortar methods and materials. This also facilitated a discussion regarding the individuals that selected, used and maintained the historic masonry buildings in the study area, which forced a philosophical and practical reassessment of how archaeologists utilise the resource in the southeastern United States and the effect that current building conservation methods and materials will have on the integrity of mortar as an archaeological resource. It argued that current historical archaeologists practicing in the region fail to fully understand and incorporate mortar into their analysis of architectural features. In addition, current building conservation literature and practice fail to adequately conserve the diversity that defined the regional identity and have the potential to obscure or destroy the cultural significance of mortar in the archaeological record.