The phrase "ancient device" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to a tool or instrument from a long time ago, often in historical or archaeological contexts.
Example: "The archaeologists uncovered an ancient device that was used for navigation by early sailors."
Alternatives: "historical instrument" or "old artifact".
It is an ancient device, of course.
Quern, ancient device for grinding grain.
It is an ancient device that was already in use during the 13th century.
Camel saddles, also an ancient device, were contrived to accommodate the animal's hump or humps.
The abacus, which the Japanese call soroban, is an ancient device made up of parallel rods, each containing five beads each.
No one knows precisely how or when the camera obscura -- the forerunner of the modern photographic camera -- came into being, but everyone agrees that it is an ancient device.
A photograph collector, dealer and photographer himself, he shares the field's growing interest in ancient devices and techniques.
Modern versions of the operating system have solved this problem by moving to a 64-bit signed integer to count seconds, but some ancient devices or those running ancient software may fail unpredictably.
He had his troops scatter caltrops, ancient devices made of spiked rods welded together in such a way that, however they land, a spike faces upward, like a child's jack.
The conservation of the myristoyl binding site and two swivels in recoverin homologues from yeast to humans indicates that calcium-myristoyl switches are ancient devices for controlling calcium-sensitive processes.
He employs the ancient devices of mistaken identity and misplaced heritage, but instead of playing them as a farce, this tale of rural poverty and landowners in 19th-century England is brutally tragic, as his heroine contends with an absolutely pitiless patriarchy.
