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Dipl.-Biol. Bastian J. Hirthammer
Forensic Anthropology

Professional profile

Profile and qualifications

Dipl.-Biol. Bastian J. Hirthammer has worked as a court-appointed expert in forensic anthropology since 2002 and has been in independent practice in Berlin since 2006.

The central fields are forensic image comparison, age estimation, and morphological ageing. Continuous professional training, publication activity, and ongoing continuous work on forensic-anthropological questions accompany the work. This also includes links to anthropological morphology and morphognostic feature analysis; court-related practice, qualifications, and professional context are further developed on the corresponding specialist pages.

The main body of instructions arises from judicial practice, above all from local courts in regulatory offence and criminal matters, followed by regional courts, public prosecutors, and administrative authorities. Private instructions play only a secondary role.

Practice Expert witness practice since 2002 · independent office since 2006
Certification certified annually in the AGFAD ring trial since 2009
Memberships AGIB · AGFAD · DGGG · additionally BDP, DPtV and EAPL

Profile and qualifications · Professional integration

Professional memberships

The professional positioning lies primarily in the anthropological and medico-anthropological field. This includes, in particular, links to the AGIB – Working Group for Identification from Images, the AGFAD – Working Group on Forensic Age Diagnostics of the German Society of Legal Medicine, and the DGGG – German Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Section I. The main points of reference are brought together below in the section “Verifiable reference points”.

There are also professional links to psychology. Within the Professional Association of German Psychologists (BDP), the primary affiliation lies in the Section of Legal Psychology; further points of contact exist in Clinical Psychology, Educational Psychology, and in the Association of Psychological Psychotherapists within the BDP. This is complemented by memberships in the German Association of Psychotherapists (DPtV) and the European Association of Psychology and Law (EAPL).

Profile and qualifications · Fields of work

Depending on the case, involvement may take the form of a preliminary review, a written statement, a full expert report, or an oral explanation at a court hearing. Depending on the case, the work may also include oral explanation of the findings at a court hearing.

Focus areas

The central fields are morphological forensic image comparison in court-related administrative offence and criminal proceedings, forensic age estimation at legally relevant age thresholds, and morphological ageing with its age-related feature changes. This is complemented by work on the 3D quantification of human morphological structures and on standardised comparison images. These focal areas connect practical expert work with scientific activity and explain why publications, casework, and methodological contributions on the website are closely related to one another.

Profile and qualifications · Verifiable points of reference

Verifiable reference points

The present practice rests on a long professional continuity: expert witness practice since 2002, independent office in Berlin since 2006, AGIB membership as a scientific expert since 2008, and annual certification in the AGFAD ring trial since 2009. In addition, there is independent specialist work on forensic image comparison, age estimation, and morphological ageing. Together, these elements form the professional and temporal continuity on which the current work rests.

On procedure

For an initial enquiry, the type of proceedings, the evidential question, and the current state of the material are usually sufficient. From this it can often already be derived whether a preliminary review, technical preparation, or a more extensive expert examination is appropriate.

Profile and qualifications · Quality assurance

Quality assurance and continuing education

Professional work is not defined by memberships alone. It also requires continuing education, engagement with current standards, and transparent documentation of the working basis. This is relevant in fields in which methodological limits must be stated openly and practical judgement must be kept current.

In forensic age estimation, this is additionally reflected in the documented annual participation in the AGFAD proficiency test since 2009. Such evidence does not replace case-specific assessment, but it documents ongoing quality assurance and methodological updating.

Profile and qualifications · Scientific background

Publications

A complete overview of the publications, book chapters, and selected specialist contributions is available on the dedicated publications page. The material is compiled there in a more coherent bibliographic form.