Palynology of badger coprolites from central Spain J.S. Carrio ´n a, * , G. Gil b , E. Rodrı ´guez a , N. Fuentes a , M. Garcı ´a-Anto ´n b , A. Arribas c a Departamento de Biologı ´a Vegetal (Bota ´ nica), Facultad de Biologı ´a, 30100 Campus de Espinardo, Murcia, Spain b Departamento de Biologı ´a (Bota ´ nica), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Auto ´noma de Madrid, 28049 Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain c Museo Geominero, Instituto Geolo ´gico y Minero de Espan ˜a, Rı ´os Rosas 23, 28003 Madrid, Spain Received 21 January 2005; received in revised form 14 May 2005; accepted 23 May 2005 Abstract This paper presents pollen analysis of badger coprolites from Cueva de los Torrejones, central Spain. Eleven of fourteen coprolite specimens showed good pollen preservation, acceptable pollen concentration, and diversity of both arboreal and herbaceous taxa, together with a number of non-pollen palynomorph types, especially fungal spores. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the coprolite collection derives from badger colonies that established setts and latrines inside the cavern over the last three centuries. The coprolite pollen record depicts a mosaic, anthropogenic landscape very similar to the present-day, comprising pine forests, Quercus -dominated formations, woodland patches with Juniperus thurifera , and a Cistaceae - dominated understorey with heliophytes and nitrophilous assemblages. Although influential, dietary behavior of the badgers does not preclude palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the coprolite pollen spectra. D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Palynology; Palaeoecology; Holocene; Coprolites; Badger; Spain 1. Introduction Copropalynology has greatly contributed to filling the gap of Quaternary landscape reconstruction stud- ies in poorly known territories (Davis, in press). Paly- nologists have succeeded in extracting pollen from consolidated dung of extinct megafauna (Thompson et al., 1980; Davis and Anderson, 1987; Mead et al., 1986), caprids (Mead et al., 1987; Rasmussen, 1993; Karg, 1998; Akeret et al., 1999; Alcover et al., 1999; Yll et al., 2001), hyenas (Scott, 1987; Carrio ´n et al., 2000b, 2001a; Gonza ´lez-Sampe ´riz et al., 2003; Scott et al., 2004; Yll et al., in press), rodents in North America (Davis and Anderson, 1987; Betancourt et al., 1989; Cole, 1990; Smith and Betancourt, 1998), South America (Holmgren et al., 2001; Kuch et al., 2002; Latorre et al., 2002), Australia (Green et al., 1983; Pearson, 1999; Allen et al., 2000; Pearson and Betancourt, 2002), and southern Africa (Scott and Cooremans, 1992), and hyraxes (Scott and Vogel, 1992; Scott, 1994; Carrio ´n et al., 1999). Other prom- ising materials include vitrified cow dung (Carrio ´n et 0031-0182/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.05.016 * Corresponding author. Fax: +34 968 364995. E-mail address: carrion@um.es (J.S. Carrio ´n). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 226 (2005) 259– 271 www.elsevier.com/locate/palaeo