Against endless search for survivors from the past (8)
I believe the answer is:
antiques
'survivors from the past' is the definition.
(objects from the past)
'against endless search' is the wordplay.
'against' becomes 'anti' (prefix meaning against).
'endless' means to remove the last letter.
'search' becomes 'quest' (quest is a kind of search).
'quest' with its final letter taken off is 'ques'.
'anti'+'ques'='ANTIQUES'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for antiques that I've seen before include "valuable stuff" , "Collectable old objects" , "Valuable items from an earlier period" , "Old objects, valuable perhaps" , "Such old items may be valuable" .)