More than 7000 years ago, parts of central and south-eastern Europe were already home to advanced agricultural societies, with city-like settlements housing several thousand inhabitants. The first traces of this remarkable culture were excavated in the 1870s at Tordos (Turdaș) in Transylvania, by Zsófia Torma (1832–1899), Hungary’s first female archaeologist and one of the very first women in the history of archaeology. This book is about this remarkable woman and her discovery – the traces of Europe’s first civilisation, with the oldest traces of metallurgy to date and possibly even a form of early writing. The book also describes the place where Zsófia Torma worked, Hungarian Transylvania, and its history. Her life’s work coincides with a very important period in Hungarian history, in a Europe that would soon be shattered by the carnage of the First World War. Archaeology was a new science, and Zsófia was one of its very first women. She should therefore be well known in the history of archaeology, which is unfortunately not the case. It is therefore time to bring her to light, as well as the Transylvania that shaped her and the outstanding archaeological discoveries she made.