## 2 Materials and Methodological Framework  
Table 1 summarises the main methods used in the geo-ethnoarchaeological case studies reviewed in this paper, based on comparative modern reference dung materials and models. The focus is on contextual thin-section micromorphology, calcite dung spherulites that originate in the digestive system of many animals, particularly ruminants, in addition to plant microfossils such as opal photoliths and wood ash pseudomorphs, the latter resulting from the heating of calcium oxalates. These proxies derive from both archaeological and modern reference livestock dung matter and dung products (e.g., fresh dung pellets, soils from animal penning, building materials including threshing floors and roofing, dung cakes for fuel purposes, and dung-dominated or mixed fuel remains). Figure 1: Schematic diagram showing a model for the identification and characterisation of archaeological livestock dung based on comparative modern reference records and ethnoarchaeological studies conducted in the research areas. During fieldwork, it is possible to improve the frequency with which herbivore during materials are being detected through the quick screening of calcite spherulites from suspected faecal deposits by mounting smear microscope slides (e.g., [29]). Further, the application of methodological techniques for elemental analysis, such as portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) for detecting the presence of phosphates in sediments, has yielded promising results for the rapid identification of faecal deposits in the field, rather than in laboratory conditions (e.g., [16; 17]). In micromorphological thin-section (Figure 2a,b), it becomes possible to distinguish between ovicaprines, cattle, and pigs, which are the species most frequently responsible  
\begin{table}
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**Method** & **Abilities, Advantages, and Appropriate Application** & **Inabilities and Disadvantages** \\ \hline  & Allows examination of microfossils and other microscopic remains in situ and establishes their associations (e.g., herbivore vs. omnivore dung); preserves the original size of multicelled phytoliths; supports electron reconstruction; may be extrapolated to reconstruct local landscape, environmental conditions, and land use. Identifies the specific depositional context (e.g., microlaminated structure, trampling within an enclosure); helps understand site formation, depositional pathways, and taphomomic processes (e.g., bioturbation, dissolution, burning). & Associations may be diet-based (e.g., phytoliths scarce or absent in grass-poor diets) and diagenesis-based (e.g., spherulites absent due to dissolution); microlamination may be absent in grass-poor diets and obliterated due to bioturbation. & Associations may be diet-based (e.g., phytoliths scarce or absent in grass-poor diets) and diagenesis-based (e.g., spherulites absent due to dissolution); microlamination may be absent in grass-poor diets and obliterated due to bioturbation. & Associations may be diet-based (e.g., phytoliths scarce or absent in grass-poor diets) and diagenesis-based (e.g., spherulites absent due to dissolution); microlamination may be absent in grass-poor diets and obliterated due to bioturbation. & Associations may be diet-based (e.g., phytoliths scarce or absent in grass-poor diets) and diagenesis-based (e.g., phytoliths for proper morphological analysis), 2D views, and they may be masked by other embedded material. \\  &  
for the deposition of livestock dung remains in archaeological contexts from the study areas throughout the early/middle Holocene. Herbivorous dung pellets are generally porous, loosely packed, and composed of poorly digested to undigested plant epidermal tissues, seeds, and fruits, along with other plant microscopic remains such as phytoliths and calcium oxalates, cellulose, and mineral inclusions, which can be found embedded in the organic groundmass frequently displaying phosphate staining.