The complex relations between territory and the social sciences are explained by investigators from different disciplines: geography, economy, sociology and history. This title demonstrates the vigor of the concept of space within the social sciences in general, and within the historical social sciences in particular. Two and a half millennia ago, the Excession, a perfect black sphere, appeared in a remote corner of space. It did nothing, then disappeared. Now it is back, and someone who saw it the first time has information on its staggering potential, but she is living out her death in the Sleeper Service. Selected proceedings from the first European Conference on Integrated Research for Soil and Sediment Protection and Remediation, reflecting a number of multidisciplinary soil research programmes taking place in several European countries.