Here we go again. In Albany last week, archaeologists uncovered what may well be the oldest Dutch house dating to the 1630's, along with the possible brick works of Johanna de Laet, an early prominent Albany business woman, and nine well preserved wooden vats for tanneries that were located outside the Albany village and completely unknown to any Albany historians. All of it soon to be covered over by another parking lot. Dejavu!

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 of Albany.

On South Pearl Street, archaeologists recovered the remains of three individuals from the old Dutch Lutheran cemetery. The construction of the new office and garage for the Department of Environmental Conservation, on Broadway, yielded to archaeologists building foundations of the lost city block that burned down, with several others, in the whole northern end of the city in 1797.

The Dormitory Authority project on Broadway was halted because of Dutch colonial artifacts.

Back in the 1980's, archaeologists found the site of the Dutch Church's 17th century Indian Praying House at the Keycorp Building site between Norton and Beaver Streets. The nearby Dutch Church burying ground off Green Street yielded many coffins and skeletons and then reburied by a large parking garage.

The destruction of Albany's archeological treasures started in recent memory with the finding of the original Fort Orange in 1970, only to be covered with part of 1-787 after some excavations.

Massive parking garages, the official symbol of the car culture and suburban commuters, are responsible for most of the recent destruction of Albany's past.

Last week's discoveries show the importance of archeology. No one expected to find the numerous intact tanning vats. One of the inherent problems with forcing archaeologists to excavate only the "footprint" or "path of destruction" of a proposed project is that only a portion of any site gets excavated. Digging a few feet to the north of south may have missed these. And, what other undiscovered finds lie beneath the area just outside the reach of archaeologists, because they are not allowed the time or finances to excavate anything other than where the piles are placed, or the sewer lines laid?

"This is like finding a lost manuscript," says historian John Wolcott. "Certainly you wouldn't save only a few pages and throw the rest away?"

In 1985, I proposed to Albany the establishment of a department that would oversee the city's natural and historic resources. It would have created a database of potential important archeological sites.

It promoted the incorporation of preplanning and archeology in all proposed developments so that there would be ample time to conduct the kinds of research that doesn't force you to work with a backhoe over your head.

It also encouraged developers to preserve these resources, even incorporate them into their development, as showpieces so the public could see them.

Unfortunately, the city of Albany has missed many opportunities over the last 30 years to become a heritage destination, and to capitalize on the growing historic tourism industry that will be the number one industry in America by 2005.

Will one of the three foreign travellers that visit America to see a historic site stop by Albany to see the concrete and steel office buildings? Will they flock to see a Disney-like recreation of Fort Orange on the banks of the Hudson after they realize that the real one is buried next door under roads and commercial development? I think not.

In 1845, a student from the Albany Female Academy said it perfectly. She wrote: "Thy antique dwellings have been leveled, not so much by the ruthless hand of Time, as the merciless spirit of improvement!..." "Why is this permitted? To renovate, to preserve those remnants of the past, should be our pious aim, not with profane hands to cut, hew down, and alter the roof trees which have sheltered generation after generation."

They always had smart kids in Albany. We need to work on the grownups.