An ambitious program with 60 talks and 22 posters lies ahead of us now. The aim of the meeting is to gain new insights into the complex interactions between mining activities and settlement, trade, culture and environment; insights, which benefit from the interdisciplinary approach. We expect that the presentation of recent results and the discussion between the disciplines will open a new perspective on various aspects of mining, and that new research objectives will result from this meeting. By temporal and spatial comparison of mining and miningrelated activities throughout European history, commonalities and differences shall become visible, allowing the recognition of patterns.