in 1902, the giza west field was divided into three parallel sections for each of the nations which had been granted an excavation concession - from east to west, the united states, the kingdom of italy and the german empire. between 1903 and 1907 georg steindorff undertook three excavation campaigns. in 1911, steindorff and hermann junker, who had previously excavated in nubia, decided to swap their concessions. thus, the austrian academy of sciences took over the german concession at giza.