Old can be used to describe a person or an object that is old in a more "recent" sense. Civilizations and artifacts can be described as ancient because they are old on a much larger scale that can be dated. That is why, for example, when you call someone "ancient" as opposed to "old", it's more of an insult.

Ancient means older than old! ancient 1- belonging to a period of history that is thousands of years in the past 2- very old; having existed for a very long time: examples : an ancient oak tree ancient monuments .......................

Old (used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age while Ancient belonging to times long past especially of the historical period before the fall of the Western Roman Empire or a person who lived in ancient times cowboy...

ancient = very old

Old: aged for a specified time. Ancient: aged and very old