Lauer thus arrived in Egypt in 1926 where Pierre Lacau, then head of Supreme Council of Antiquities, gave him an 8-month position assisting Cecil Mallaby Firth's work on Djoser's Step Pyramid.

Monsieur Jouguet had published translations of many Greek papyri found in Egypt, and was a professor of ancient history and papyrology at Lille.

In 1963, together with Jean Leclant, he founded the Mission Archéologique Française de Saqqâra[1] which is still active to this day.

From his arrival in 1926 until his death in 2001, J. P. Lauer worked in numerous excavations and restorations projects on the Saqqara plateau, stopping only for a short time when Gamal Abdel Nasser assumed power in Egypt.

[citation needed] Lauer's main work during his 75 years in Saqqara was the restoration of Djoser's mortuary complex in particular the serdab and the enclosure wall.