Lehner first went to Egypt as a student in the 1970s. Intrigued by the mysteries of the 'Sleeping Prophet', Edgar Cayce, Lehner "found that [my] initial notions about the ancient civilization along the Nile could not stand up to the bedrock reality of the Giza Plateau". He turned to the scientific method of discovery in order to understand the culture better, returning some years later to complete a doctorate degree at Yale University. Lehner's 1991 dissertation was titled Archaeology of an image: The Great Sphinx of Giza.

Lehner's team has more recently included parts of Menkaure's valley temple and the town attached to the monument of Queen Khentkawes in their excavations. AERA's 2009 field season was recorded in a blog. AERA has conducted a number of archaeological field schools for Egyptian antiquities inspectors under the auspices of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. The AERA team has run basic and advanced courses at Giza, as well as courses in salvage archaeology along the Avenue of Sphinxes north of Luxor Temple in the city of Luxor.

Among his other work in Egypt, Lehner has produced the only known scale maps of the Giza Sphinx.

Lehner's book, The Complete Pyramids (1997), is an exhaustive catalogue of Egypt's many pyramid sites. He has appeared in many television programs about Ancient Egypt. He is a visiting assistant professor of Egyptian archaeology at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

Dr. Lehner has also starred and aided in the production of several documentaries about the pyramids which are regularly aired on the National Geographic Channel.

Lehner has two sons, Ramsis and Luke Lehner. Their mother is Egyptian. Both sons graduated from the American University of Cairo and are theatrical actors and directors as well as musical producers.

Crew

• Into the Great Pyramid (2002) (TV) (consultant: archeology)
• Mysteries of Egypt (1998) (scientific consultant)
• Saving the Sphinx (1998) (TV) (historical consultant)

Appearances

• Riddles of the Sphinx [1] (2010) (TV)
• Heritage Key: Pyramid Builders (2009) (TV)
• Into the Great Pyramid (2002) (TV)
• Secrets of the Pharaohs: Lost City of the Pyramids (2001) (TV)
• Saving the Sphinx (1998) (TV)
• Egypt: Secrets of the Pharaohs (1997) (TV)
• Mummies: Tales from the Egyptian Crypts (1996) (TV)
• This Old Pyramid (1992) (TV)
• Mysteries of the Pyramids, LIVE (1988) (TV)