[haldujai]

> Point being that ancients did not use sunscreen

The statement being made by others is that "ancients" applied a topical substance to protect their skin from harmful effects of the sun, most would call that sunscreen[0] but use whatever word you prefer.

> anything remotely close to the formulae we have today

No one is making this claim.

[0] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sunscree...

[armatav]

The statement was about skin cancer, and the implication is that they did nothing about it.

Sunscreen is a 20th century term, and modern sunscreen as we know it came into use in the mid-20th century.