Well, not rich in money - but in finding something “one of a kind”. I suppose there are various types of archaeologists? The ones hired by the government or whoever to investigate things that are uncovered during construction - like that one at the new highway in Israel.
And then I suppose there are others that do a bunch of research trying to figure out where some old town or fort or church had been, and then going on a search for that specific feature.
In both cases I’m sure that they do their due diligence, but after finding the same type of pottery shard that you’ve found a million times before, that must get pretty old.
But to discover the “Lost Church” or something much older than previously ever believed to have been there, or artifacts that are unusual - that must be really cool, and has to be one of the things that keeps them going.
The archaeologist who gave that answer could well have been responding to a leading question or aggressive questioning, or may just be cavalier, or simply overstating the find.