POLIS, Cyprus — "Yeah, there's always the scent of coconut around here," Nancy Serwint conceded, a slow smile lighting her bronzed face. Suntan lotion--coconut scented or otherwise--is one of the requisites of an archeological dig, along with trowels, whisk brooms and dedication.

Prof. Serwint teaches Greek and Roman art at Arizona State University, and for the past eight summers she has come here to probe the soil of northwestern Cyprus for evidence of a culture that flourished more than 2,500 years ago.

She receives no pay, leaves a "very understanding" boyfriend behind in Tempe and spends two months under a hot Mediterranean sun. "We do it because we love it," she explained. With a passion, in Serwint's case.

Bounding over dirt tracks at the wheel of the expedition's Land Rover, the professor heads for the Peristeries site, where three years of digging has revealed the stone and mud-brick walls of a pagan sanctuary of the 6th Century BC. The convincing discovery was a cache of terra cotta figurines, votive statues offered in prayer to the gods.

"We've uncovered nearly 5,000 of them," said Serwint, an expert on the little figures, molded in remarkable detail, their wide, stylized eyes staring out across the centuries. Votive art was obviously big business, and the gods were well entreated during what archeologists call the Cypro-Archaic Period.

Across the breadth of this island and on the Middle East mainland beyond, the artifacts and architecture of ancient civilizations mix with modern life, a heritage exploited and embraced.

Egypt's sphinx, Israel's Masada and Jordan's rose-red ruins of Petra are symbols of their cultures; they inspire a silent sense of awe and turn a pretty tourist dollar. The past is for sale today, mainland merchants tell visitors, and "licensed" dealers in antiquities proffer frail examples of Roman glassware and tiny sandstone oil lamps.

History is business in the Middle East, whether long recorded or lurking under a few feet of soil. Even here on Cyprus, where the pursuit of archeology has been more marked by academic professionalism, dig leaders this summer have been brushing up their spiels for the inevitable arrival of tour groups on the grounds. It will help pay the bills.

The commercial aspects, however, are largely lost on most archeologists. Theirs is a profession whose rewards come in discovery and understanding. Success fills the ego, not the bank account. Their shop is the dig site.