well on seasonality of these plant and faecal microfossils that are excreted with dung have not yet been fully investigated.  
The current study builds on previous work on modern dung, primarily from ovipcarines and cattle, to address livestock management within the local landscape and to elucidate links between animal and plant resources through the study of the phytoliths and calcitic spherulite records embedded within animal dung deposits from Mediterranean inland ecosystems [9; 10; 26; 27; 28; 29]. This study expands the modern reference records with new modern dung materials from Menorca (Balearic Islands, Spain). The island is home to a remarkable diversity of ecosystems and rural landscapes, as well as to rich archaeological late Bronze and Iron Age (Talayotic) heritage. The archaeofaunal records indicate that the main domestic species widespread across the Mediterranean, sheep (_Ovis aries_), goat (_Capra hircus_), cattle (_Bos taurus_), pig (_Sus domesticus_), as well as other domestic species such as dog (_Canis familiaris_) and rodents (house mice, rats), were introduced to the island along with the first human populations during the III millennium cal BC [30; 31; 32; 33; 34]. The founal assemblages from later Talayotic Iron Age sites such as Cornia Nou in Mahon, located in our research area on the eastern side of Menorca (Figure 1), have revealed insights into ovicaprine herding (_Ovis_, _Capra_), and to a lesser extent from cattle (_Bos taurus_) and suids (_Sus domesticus_), as well as pollen assemblages indicative of herbaceous ruderal and nitrophilous vegetation related to husbandry [35; 36]. Further direct evidence from dung remains come from the Talayotic settlement of Torre d'en Galmes (Alaior), in the southern portion of the island, where the identification through soil micromorphology of spherulithic ashes within domestic contexts from building areas points to the use of animal dung a source of fuel [37; 38].  
In light of these previous studies, the focus in the current work is on the phytolith and calcitic dung components of modern faecal pellets collected from pasture grounds and pens from diverse adult and young animals, including cattle and sheep in addition to the lesser investigated pigs [9]. Dung samples correspond to three neighboring farms located in Mahon, displaying varied agricultural and livestock management strategies and animal diets. Furthermore, an innovative aspect of the reported research is the sampling strategies, focusing on the collection of a range of dung materials from different periods of the year to evaluate variations on seasonality of phytolith and calcitic spherulithic microfossils that are excreted with dung, as well as differences in their composition according to animal species and age, livestock management, and grazing and foddering regimes. The main objective is to contribute a better understanding of both microfossil records, in order to evaluate their implications for the identification of dung assemblages as fundamental reference frameworks for the interpretation of these important materials for reconstructing human-environment interactions which are commonly overlooked in archaeology.  
Figure 1: Localities in Menorca cited in the text. (1) Es Capell de Ferro (Mahon); (2) Algendaret Nou (Mahon); (3) Talati de Dalt (Mahon), (4) Cornia Nou (Mahon); (5) Museum of Menorca (Mahon); (6) Torre d’en Galmés (Alaior).