Tracking the origin of faecal material in modern and past environments is of primary importance as it permits the identification of pathogenic contamination hazardous for human health in water, sediment or shellfish, and helps archaeologists and paleoecologists identifying animal activity areas for example. For the past few decades, sterol-derived compounds have been used as faecal biomarkers to identify the main sources of faecal inputs in different environments, and especially to distinguish a human/omnivore origin from a herbivore one.