{"title":"Abundance, diversity and taphonomy of dung-related palynomorphs from modern animal enclosures and faecal samples","authors":"Lionello F. Morandi","doi":"10.1007/s12520-025-02268-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Surface sediment samples, as well as dung samples from a range of modern sites under various husbandry practices, have been investigated to determine the taxonomic diversity and abundance of spores of coprophilous fungi and other non-pollen palynomorphs. The results show a remarkable variation in both, the amount of microremains and the composition of the assemblages, ranging from zero counts to spore-rich samples and from a poor to a wide variety of taxa. Based on the different conditions recorded on the sites, inferences are made on the factors that may have played a major role in determining a high or low quantity of microremains (such as animal density and the frequency of use of the sites) and their implications for the study of ancient pastoral contexts. Eggs of intestinal parasites, along with aquatic indicators, were also quantified, and some possibly dung-related non-pollen palynomorphs are described.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8214,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences","volume":"17 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12520-025-02268-6","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Surface sediment samples, as well as dung samples from a range of modern sites under various husbandry practices, have been investigated to determine the taxonomic diversity and abundance of spores of coprophilous fungi and other non-pollen palynomorphs. The results show a remarkable variation in both, the amount of microremains and the composition of the assemblages, ranging from zero counts to spore-rich samples and from a poor to a wide variety of taxa. Based on the different conditions recorded on the sites, inferences are made on the factors that may have played a major role in determining a high or low quantity of microremains (such as animal density and the frequency of use of the sites) and their implications for the study of ancient pastoral contexts. Eggs of intestinal parasites, along with aquatic indicators, were also quantified, and some possibly dung-related non-pollen palynomorphs are described.
期刊介绍:
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences covers the full spectrum of natural scientific methods with an emphasis on the archaeological contexts and the questions being studied. It bridges the gap between archaeologists and natural scientists providing a forum to encourage the continued integration of scientific methodologies in archaeological research.
Coverage in the journal includes: archaeology, geology/geophysical prospection, geoarchaeology, geochronology, palaeoanthropology, archaeozoology and archaeobotany, genetics and other biomolecules, material analysis and conservation science.
The journal is endorsed by the German Society of Natural Scientific Archaeology and Archaeometry (GNAA), the Hellenic Society for Archaeometry (HSC), the Association of Italian Archaeometrists (AIAr) and the Society of Archaeological Sciences (SAS).