The term anthropic unit (from Greek άνθρωπος, 'human') is used with different meanings in archaeology, in measurement and in social studies.

In archaeology, anthropic units are strata or deposits of material containing a high proportion of man-made detritus. For example:

"… 'degraded anthropic units', i.e., deposits produced by weathering and decay of fired bricks and mixed fill with non-selected inclusions …"

— Massimo Vidale (1990)

Following the coinage of the term "anthropic principle" by Brandon Carter in 1973–4, units of measurement that are on a human scale are occasionally referred to as "anthropic units", as for example here:

"… the metre and kilogram occupy a reasonably central position as far as symmetry in positive and negative powers of ten is concerned, emphasising that the SI units are natural anthropic units …"

— Brian William Petley (1985)

In fields of study such as sociology and ethnography, anthropic units are identifiable groupings of people. For example: