The preservation, it is remarkable. There are hopes to conduct tours of the site for the public next weekend, before the site is buried. The remains of a house believed to date back to some of Albany's earliest Dutch settlers has been uncovered at a downtown construction site. Archaeologists say they've also found an 18th-century tannery complex and brickworks at the future site of a parking garage for a new state building. They believe the house located near Interstate 787 dates back to the 1630s, when Albany was a growing Dutch settlement.
Archaeologists say the house is a rare find, since it was located outside the original city walls.
In Albany last week, archaeologists uncovered what may well be the oldest Dutch house, dating to the 1630s, along with the possible brick works of Johanna de Laet, an early prominent Albany businesswoman, and nine well-preserved wooden vats for tanneries that were located outside the Albany village. All of it soon to be covered over by another parking garage. You may remember that last year the same archeological team found a 180-foot section of the 18th century wooden stockade, along with wharves, a possible Indian feature, and the launching dock for the Experiment, an 18th century sloop that visited China. It was then reburied and topped with a parking garage for commuters at the state University at Albany. On South Pearl Street, archaeologists recovered the remains of three individuals from the old Dutch Lutheran cemetery.