Animal dung from arid environments and archaeobotanical methodologies for its analysis: An example from animal burials of the Predynastic elite cemetery HK6 at Hierakonpolis, Egypt Elena Marinova 1 , Philippa Ryan 2 , Wim Van Neer 1,3 , Renée Friedman 4 1 Center for Archaeological Sciences, University of Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, bus 2408, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium, 2 Department of Conservation and Scientific Research, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, UK, 3 Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium, 4 Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, UK Bioarchaeological studies of animal dung from arid environments provide valuable information on various aspects of life in ancient societies relating to land use and environmental change, and from the Neolithic onwards to the animal husbandry and the use of animals as markers of status and wealth. In this study we present the archaeobotanical analysis of animal gut contents from burials in the elite Predynastic cemetery HK6 at Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt. The study involved analysis of plant macrofossils, phytoliths and pollen applied on samples from two elephants, a hartebeest, an aurochs and five domestic cattle. The study showed that most probably the elephants were given fodder containing emmer spikelets (dehusking by-products) before the animals death. Most of the other animals were also foddered with cereal chaff, but were mainly allowed to browse and graze in the settlement area and near the Nile. The diet of some contained only wild growing plants. The variety of plant remains identified in the stomach contents indicates that the food plants for the animals were obtained from three possible habitats near the site: the river banks, the low desert and the cultivated/anthropogenically modified areas. Keywords: Plant macrofossils, Phytoliths, Fodder, Animal feeding, Bioarchaeology, Predynastic Egypt Introduction Dung remains from arid or desert environments show in some cases excellent preservation of plant remains. They can provide information on past environment and subsistence that can rarely be obtained from other sources in such environments where proxy data are generally scarce (Scott 2005). Pure desiccation does not occur in all cases: material is often preserved in a state transitional between desiccation and miner- alisation (Linseele et al. 2010, 2013). The mineralised state makes the analyses difficult and reduces the range of information that can be obtained. However, careful sampling and sub-sampling in order to select better preserved material can increase the potential of successful analysis. Animal dung deposits from cave and shelter sites can provide valuable paleoenvironmental and paleoeconomic evidence (see di Lernia 2001; Delhon et al. 2008, Mercuri 2008; Linseele et al. 2010) especially when accompanied by good stratigraphic and chronological control. Animal dung contributing to settlement deposits in desert environments has a greater chance of being preserved intact and in a recognisable state; it can provide infor- mation on the supply of fodder and functional zoning at the sites as well as the use of dung as building materials and fuel (see Cappers 2006; van der Veen and Tabinor 2007; Ghosh et al. 2008; Mercuri 2008; Marinova et al. 2012). Animal burials in cemeteries of the Egyptian Predynastic period (ca. 4000–3000 BC) traditionally have yielded domestic animals (sheep, goat, cattle and dogs), which were interred alone or in association with human bodies (Flores 2003, 2004). The elite cem- etery HK6 at Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt, from which the materials presented in this paper are Correspondence to: Elena Marinova, Center for Archaeological Sciences, University of Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, bus 2408, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium. Email: Elena.Marinova@bio.kuleuven.be © Association for Environmental Archaeology 2013 DOI 10.1179/1461410313Z.00000000020 Journal of Environmental Archaeology 2013 VOL. 18 NO. 1 58