There are plenty of people in the world who do not understand the truth about archaeology. Pretty much everyone I’ve told that I was doing this made an Indiana Jones joke, and to be frank, not all of them were unfunny or gross misconceptions about archaeology. If someone were to do that again, I would play along but make it clear that I love my work, because it’s not worth fighting over with everyone. In truth, I would wish that this person could understand what archaeology is about: digging to see what happened there, not necessarily the media-shown treasure hunters that claim to be “archaeologists.” If you dig and dig and dig and have nothing to show for it other than a knowledge of what happened in that space in am approximate time frame, I consider that an astounding success.
In my opinion, archaeology is about achieving an understanding of the people and the buildings in the area. I dig to look for just about anything: color changes in soil, rockfall, walls, and just about any other cool stuff I can find that can help illuminate an understanding of the area. In my opinion, that is the primary goal of archaeology, not treasure hunting or putting art into museums, but more academically to gain an understanding of your site.
How people can continue to think archaeologists are treasure hunters is baffling to me. Most of us gain very little from our finds other than knowledge and acknowledgment from a governmental entity, if we’re lucky. Better to learn all your life and discover what secrets lie underneath the dirt, dust and rocks. After all, if you discover something odd, you can write a paper about it to increase your standing in the academic community, much as it makes me chuckle to say that. But archaeology seeks understanding from excavation, as opposed to wealth or fame.