Anchisauridae is a family of small, early sauropodomorphs from the Early Jurassic, roughly 190 to 174 million years ago, first proposed in 1885 and long classified among the bipedal "prosauropods" before later anatomical study suggested its members may actually sit closer to the base of true Sauropoda. Members were modest in size -- typically 2 to 4 meters long and relatively lightly built compared to bulkier sauropodomorph relatives like the plateosaurids -- with a long neck, robust limbs, spoon-shaped teeth suited to processing plant material, and feet narrower than those of related prosauropod groups.
The type genus, Anchisaurus, whose name means "near lizard," was recovered from the eastern United States and moved primarily on all four legs, though it was capable of rearing onto its hind legs to reach higher vegetation. Because Anchisaurus was named and studied well before modern methods of comparative anatomy were developed, its exact placement in the sauropodomorph family tree has been revised more than once, making Anchisauridae a useful case study in how early dinosaur classification has been refined as new analytical techniques and additional fossil material have become available.