"ancient ancestry" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when you are talking about a family's long lineage or lineage extending far into the past. For example: "Her family's ancient ancestry can be traced back to the 17th century."
Such journalistic sins remain the exceptions, with an ancient ancestry; they're just easier to uncover in the Internet age.
Since modern humans emerged from the evolutionary brambles of our ancient ancestry, our bodies and minds have been transforming under the pressures of natural and sexual selection.
The painful paradox of art drawing on an ancient ancestry, but viewed in a distracted instant by a restless commuting public, could not have been lost on Kenny.
You could look to see if you are part of the same haplogroup [a designation of ancient ancestry] as a friend.
In one of the most detailed genetic reconstructions of population history so far, Dr. Martin Richards of the University of Huddersfield in England and many colleagues have traced the remarkably ancient ancestry of the present-day population of Europe.
Chinese crested, breed of toy dog of ancient ancestry; it is one of the hairless breeds, its coat being confined to its head (crest), tail (plume), and lower legs (socks), although most litters also contain "powderpuff" pups with a full coat.
The source populations were the South Western set, as before as a proxy for Ancient British ancestry, and published Norwegian (or Swedish) data as a proxy for Norse Viking ancestry.
He noticed sedimentary rock and speculated that it might hold the remains of ancient human ancestry.
"The ancient admixed ancestry explains the blond hair and blue eyes of Ashkenazi Jews whose grandparents and great-grandparents all lived in shtetls two and three generations ago," Dr. Ostrer said.
By growing organoids from cells taken from living people and looking at how the Neanderthal genes switch on and off, the team can see whether a person's brain development is subtly influenced by their ancient Neanderthal ancestry.
These are shared ancestral characters and only provide evidence of ancient shared ancestry.
