In winter 1909–1910 Junker began the first official Austrian excavations in the village of
Tura near Cairo, where he found rich prehistoric finds that he sent to the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The following winter he led excavations at
El-Kubanieh north of Aswan, finding prehistoric tombs and cemeteries from the
Middle Kingdom and the Nubian C-group. His interest in the ancient Nubian people drew him to the town of Toschke in Middle
Nubia, which he excavated in 1911–1912. As a result of his work, in 1912 he was appointed full professor of Egyptology at the University of Vienna. In January 1912 he began excavating
Giza, engaging in three campaigns by 1914 covering an area of 15,000 square meters and more than 600 graves. On 10 January 1913 he discovered
Mastaba of Kaninisut. Shortly after the decision was made to purchase the cult chamber of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in order explore the typical grave architecture of the
Old Kingdom. The fourth campaign for 1914–1915 was already in the pipeline when
World War I prevented further work. Even after the war, the economic situation in Austria and the political situation in Egypt (which remained until 1922 a British protectorate) prevented further work. In January 1926 the fourth campaign began, continuing to the south side of the
Great Pyramid in 1928 in the seventh campaign. After Giza, Junker began excavating the Merimde-Benisalame site in the West Delta. In seven campaigns from 1928 to 1939 he uncovered an extensive Neolithic free settlement that became one of the most important for this epoch. In 1929 Junker took over the management of the German Institute of Egyptian Archaeology of the Cairo Department of the
German Archaeological Institute. In 1934 he became professor of Egyptology at the University of Cairo, where he taught for 10 years. Caught by surprise on vacation at the outbreak of
World War II, excavations in Egypt had to stop. The Cairo Department was moved first to Berlin, then in 1943 to Vienna. During the war Junker continued to work on the publication of materials on Giza, and never returned to Egypt. ==Selected publications==