One of the things that most archaeologists hate about archaeology is how misunderstood it is; we meet people all the time who have never met an archaeologist, or who did not realize that one can have a career as an archaeologist, or who think that archaeologists spend their time digging up dinosaurs. Almost as bad, we meet people who have heard of archaeology and perhaps even have met real archaeologists, but who have a misconceived notion of the discipline and its practitioners.

The myth of archaeology runs from the adventure of tomb raiding at the one extreme to the tedium of unending work in dusty archives at the other. The reality is, of course, far more complex. Thus, this book is an introduction not to what archaeology is, but to what archaeologists do, and, therefore, to what the archaeological community is like. To that end, this book is about the profession of archaeology, because modern archaeology is a vocation akin to law or medicine; the various chapters of the book discuss the different jobs open to budding archaeologists.

Although the main users of this book are likely to be prospective archaeologists –archaeology students, in particular – the intention is that this book will be of interest and use to anyone who has ever wondered what archaeologists actually do on a daily basis.