Ancient

From Middle English auncyen, from Old French ancien ("old"), from Latin root *anteanus, from ante ("before"). Compare antique.

Full definition of ancient

Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age; very old.

1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter Foreword, ‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War. …’

an ancient city; an ancient forest
Existent or occurring in time long past, usually in remote ages; belonging to or associated with antiquity; old, as opposed to modern.

2006, Edwin Black, Internal Combustion Chapter 2, Buried within the Mediterranean littoral are some seventy to ninety million tons of slag from ancient smelting, about a third of it concentrated in Iberia. This ceaseless industrial fueling caused the deforestation of an estimated fifty to seventy million acres of woodlands.
2013, Henry Petroski, Geothermal Energy, Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.

BernersThough he was the youngest brother, yet he was the most ancient in the business of the realm.

(plural ancients)

1719, Daniel Defoe, I got all things ready as he had directed, and waited the next morning with the boat washed clean, her ancient and pendants out, and everything to accommodate his guests..