Burger's archaeological fieldwork has focused on the northern highlands and central coast of the Peruvian Andes. His research focuses on the emergence and development of early civilizations in the Central Andes and he has illuminated the ways that religious institutions rather than stratified states are involved in the rise of complex societies in the case of the Andes. Burger has carried out field projects in the highlands of the Department of Ancash at the sites of Chavín de Huantar (1975-1976), (1978-1980), as well as in the Lurín Valley just south of Lima at the sites of (1984-1987, 2007-2008, 2017-2019), (1990-1991, 1993-1994), and Manchay Bajo (1998-1999).