Martin Bommas began his archaeological work in Pakistan in 1990 where he participated in survey and excavation work in the Karakorum region in association with the Academy of Sciences, Heidelberg. He then joined the German Archaeological Institute's mission in Elephantine, Egypt in 1990 as a research associate before being made field director in 1991. Notably, this role was maintained during the Gulf Crisis. He continued to work at Elephantine until 2009 and during this period he contributed significantly to the reconstruction of the 18th Dynasty temple of Khnum, the restoration and reconstruction of the monumental gate of Amenhotep II and Ptolemy I which once stood in the southern temenos wall of the temple of Satet, and the discovery of a First Intermediate Period/Middle Kingdom settlement north of the Sanctuary of Heqaib. Since 2015 he has directed the “Qubbet el-Hawa Research Project” (QHRP) in Aswan, now a joint excavation between Macquarie University and the Egypt Exploration Society. Among the notable discoveries at the site was the causeway of Sarenput I, which led him to receive the Luxor Times Top 10 Discoveries award in 2017. In 2016 he also discovered the Lower Necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa dating to the Old and Middle Kingdoms.