Hyrax middens are unique environmental archives with the potential to provide unprecedented high-resolution palaeoenvironmental records, particularly in the arid regions of southern Africa. This study provides the first detailed characterisation of the organic matter composition of hyraceum and aims to identify biomarker evidence capable of providing new or supplementary palaeoenvironmental data from these novel archives. Pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry reveals hyraceum to be dominated by nitrogen-containing aromatic compounds, notably benzamide. This is almost certainly derived directly from the hyrax urine and is probably the main source of nitrogen as measured in bulk δ15N measurements. Solvent-extractable lipids comprise homologous suites of long-chain n-alkanes (C24–C34) and n-alkanols (C16–C26), characteristic of higher plant leaf waxes, along with an abundance of animal-derived sterols, higher plant sterols and terpenoids; as well as the ubiquitous benzamide. Keywords: Procavia, Quaternary, South Africa, Lipids, Stable isotopes.