The genus ranged from the middle Eocene period until the early Miocene, having a distribution throughout Eurasia.

[4] Material subjectively assigned to Anthracotherium from Pakistan suggests the last species died out soon after the start of the Miocene.

In many respects, especially the anatomy of the lower jaw, Anthracotherium, as with the other members of the family, is allied to the hippopotamus, of which it is probably an ancestral form.

[6] The genus name stems from the fact that the holotype and other first specimens were originally obtained from the Paleogene (previously known as "Tertiary")-aged lignite beds of Europe.

[4] The European Anthracotherium magnum was approximately as large as a pygmy hippo (about 2 m long and weighing up to 250 kg), but there were several smaller species and the genus also occurs in Egypt, India and North America.