The „2nd Mining in European History-Conference“, held in November 2012 at the University of Innsbruck and hosted by the FZ HiMAT, brought together scientists from various disciplines involved with prehistoric and historic mining on an European scale for the second time. More than 120 scholars from 12 countries discussed in an integrative way latest archaeological, palaeoecological, geological, geographical, historical, ethnological, linguistic and technical aspects of ancient mining activities. The results of this conference are integrated in this proceedings volume, which provides an overview of the most recent state of the art in the history of mining by uniting new findings from recent interdisciplinary studies within Europe.