[3] The fossil record of this family was first identified from Baltic amber dating to the Eocene, although many taxa from these deposits have been reassigned to Mecysmaucheniidae, Malkaridae, and Anapidae.

[4] The family Archaeidae was erected in 1854 by C. L. Koch and G. K. Berendt[1] for one genus, Archaea, initially with three extinct species,[3] all found in amber from the Baltic Sea or Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

[citation needed] A 2012 Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of 15 Archaeidae species, using combined molecular and morphological data, produced the cladogram shown below.

Species representing modern genera found in Africa and Madagascar (Afrarchaea and Eriauchenius) were not resolved into monophyletic groups; Zephyrarchaea had not then been split off from Austrarchaea.

[7] Austrarchaea (including Zephyrarchaea) Afrarchaea + Eriauchenius †Burmesarchaea grimaldii †Archaea paradoxa †Baltarchaea conica †Myrmecarchaea sp.