STATEMENT REGARDING DR. MARK LEHNER
FROM GRAHAM HANCOCK AND ROBERT G. BAUVAL
19 July 1998

It is no secret that Dr. Mark Lehner and we have had much difference of opinion over matters related to the Giza plateau. With hindsight, these problems were inevitable. We would like now to state publicly that since we have had the opportunity to meet Dr. Lehner at Giza and further to exchanges of letters and telephone conversations that subsequently followed, as well as hearing the praise and testimonials from his many friends and colleagues, we are now convinced that much of the differences and problems were due to misunderstanding and mutual misconceptions.

Dr. Mark Lehner has proven his dedication and love for the Giza monuments through his many years of hard work and extensive archaeological exploration and research on this very precious site. We acknowledge and praise such achievement. Dr. Lehner, being one of the world-wide recognised academic expert of the Giza monuments in the league of others such as Dr. Zahi Hawass, and the late Dr. I.E.S. Edwards , has not had an easy task to perform. Dr. Lehner has tried very hard to maintain both the strict rules of archaeological ground research while, on the other hand, remaining generously open minded about alternative views and theories that conflict with the academic and archaeological consensus. He deserves respect and recognition for this.

Much has been said (especially by us!) on the relationship that Dr. Lehner has had in the early 1970s with the Edgar Cayce Foundation/ARE and its members. We do not anymore feel that there is anything wrong or sinister in this. We have had several meeting and encounters with senior ARE member such as Dr. John Van Auken (Executive Director of the ARE), Charles Thomas Cayce (President of the ARE) and senior members such as Dr. Joseph Schor, Dr. Joseph Jahoda, Richard Douglas, Rufus Mosley and family members of the late Edgar Cayce. We are now convinced that their intentions and objectives have always been honest and genuine. We agree with a statement that Dr. Lehner once made to us, that you will never meet nicer and better people like the ARE people. Dr. Lehner has shown that it is possible on the one hand be loyal and true to his own academic beliefs and conviction while, on the other hand remaining a friend of the ARE. This is commendable and very courageous of his part and we invite all our readers and friends to condone this.

It is well-known that the main hope of many ARE members is that one day, perhaps soon, the fabled `Hall Of Records' which is so often mentioned in the Cayce `readings' will be found in Egypt and, indeed, in other location of the world. But above all we have come to learn that the ARE and its many friends and members feel that love and goodwill among all the seekers come above everything else. Indeed, this is a prerequisite if ever such a discovery can be made, --either in the spiritual sense, as Dr. Lehner and others believe, or in the concrete sense.

It is, therefore, in this spirit of love and goodwill that we extend our good wishes and support to Dr. Lehner. We extend the same to the ARE, its members and its friends. Let us wipe the slate clean and all go forth in this spirit. Naturally we do accept that although we still (and probably always will) maintain our disagreements with Dr. Lehner and his academic colleagues over interpretations of the Giza monuments and the chronology and origins of the ancient Egyptian civilisation, we now welcome a cordial and amicable atmosphere that will allow us all to work, separately and perhaps even together, toward the truth behind the Giza plateau, no matter what this truth may eventually turn out to be. We sincerely hope that Dr. Lehner also feels the same.

We take this opportunity to wish Dr. Lehner good tiding in his academic career and his quest at Giza.

Signed: Robert G. Bauval & Graham Hancock

Submitted to Guardian's Egypt on 19 Jul 98

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