PD Dr. Oliver Hampe

Scientist

Oliver.Hampe@mfn.berlin+49 0 30 889 140 - 8678
Orcid

Contact Meta Informationen

Department:
Evolutionary Morphology

I am responsible for the collections of Fossil Mammalia, Homininae, Geology, and Conodonta. I am co-head of the palaeontological preparation labs. My research focuses on marine mammals, but I also work on aspects of mostly Palaeozoic elasmobranchs and marine reptiles (sauropterygians). Besides evolution and functional morphology, I am particularly interested in palaeopathological findings.

I work in the laboratories:
Paläontologische Präparationslabore
I work in the collections:
Fossil Vertebrates

Vita

I studied Chemistry and Geology-Palaeontology in Düsseldorf and Mainz from 1981 to 1987. As a graduated geologist (Diplom-Geologe), I completed 1991 my doctorate at the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz. In 1996, my career began as a curator in Vertebrate Palaeontology at the MfN. In 2003, I completed my habilitation at Humboldt University in Berlin in the fields of Palaeobiology and Zoology. In 2021, I moved to the Department of Geosciences at the Free University of Berlin.

Further information

During my lectureship at Humboldt University, I represented the fields of Comparative Anatomy and Palaeobiology of the Vertebrates. Since moving to the Freie Universität, I have been teaching Vertebrate Palaeontology and Historial Geology.

Publications

Hampe, O. (2023). Sea Mammals: The Past and Present Lives of Our Oceans' Cornerstone Species By Annalisa Berta. Princeton University Press. 2023. 224 pp. ISBN 978–0–691-23664-3, US$29.95 (Hardcover); ISBN 978–0–691-24338-2, US$20.97 (eBook). Marine Mammal Science, 40(1), 319-321. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13102

McCormack, J., Feichtinger, I., Fuller, B.T., Jaouen, K., Griffiths, M.L., Bourgon, N., Maisch, H., Becker, M.A., Pollerspöck, J., Hampe, O., Rössner, G.E., Assemat, A., Müller, W., Shimada, K. (2025). Miocene marine vertebrate trophic ecology reveals megatooth sharks as opportunistic supercarnivores. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 664, 119392. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2025.119392Open Access

Leder, D., Hampe, O., Terberger, T. (2024). The “Eemian hominin finds” from Bispingen, Lower Saxony, and the record of early human remains in Northern Central Europe. Nachrichten aus Niedersachsens Urgeschichte, 93, 11-23.

Sachs, S., Madzia, D., Marx, M., Roberts, A., Hampe, O., Kear, B. (2025). The osteology, taxonomy, and phylogenetic placement of Seeleyosaurus guilelmiimperatoris (Plesiosauroidea, Microcleididae) from the Lower Jurassic Posidonia Shale of Germany. The Anatomical Record. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25620

Plön, S., Andra, K., Auditore, L.M., Gégout, C., Hale, P., Hampe, O., Ramilo-Henry, M., Burkhardt‐Holm, P., Jaigirdar, A., Klein, L., Maewashe, M., Müssig, J., Ramsarup, N., Roussouw, N., Sabin, R., Shongwe, T., Tuddenham, P. (2025). Towards sustainability and beyond with Ocean Health Science. npj Biodiversity, 4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44185-025-00091-9Open Access

Ritsche, I., Hampe, O. (2023). Two exceptional Balaenomorpha (Cetacea: Mysticeti) from the Biemenhorst Subformation (middle/late Miocene) of Bocholt (W Münsterland, Germany) with a critical appraisal on the anatomy of the periotic bone. Palaeontologia Electronica. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26879/1268Open Access

Plön, S., Andra, K., Auditore, L., Gegout, C., Hale, P.J., Hampe, O., Ramilo-Henry, M., Burkhardt-Holm, P., Jaigirdar, A.M., Klein, L., Maewashe, M.K., Müssig, J., Ramsarup, N., Roussouw, N., Sabin, R., Shongwe, T.C., Tuddenham, P. (2024). Marine mammals as indicators of Anthropocene Ocean Health. npj Biodiversity, 3(1), 24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44185-024-00055-5Open Access

Voss, M., Hampe, O., Mahlow, K., Vilanova, J.C. (2023). New findings of Prototherium ausetanum (Mammalia, Pan-Sirenia) from paving stones in Girona (Catalonia, Spain)?. Fossil Record, 26(1), 135-149. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/fr.26.99096Open Access

McCormack, J., Griffiths, M.L., Maisch Iv, H., Becker, M.A., Bourgon, N., Jaouen, K., Fuller, B.T., Pollerspöck, J., Hampe, O., Feichtinger, I., Müller, W., Shimada, K. (2025). Applying zinc isotopes to investigate the trophic positions of extinct marine vertebrates, including the megatooth shark Otodus megalodon, in ancient marine ecosystems. EGU General Assembly 2024 Abstracts. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-8484Open Access

Hampe, O., Von Der Hocht, F. (2024). The first cetacean from the early Oligocene of the SW German Mainz Basin: a probable cheek tooth of a mysticete (Mammalia: Cetacea). PalZ, 98(1), 161-174. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-023-00676-4Open Access

Alfsen, A., de Muizon, C., Lambert, O., Bianucci, G., Kaffler, A., McCurry, M., Houssaye, A., Varas-Malca, R., Salas‐Gismondi, R., Hampe, O., Amson, E. (2025). Broadening the semiaquatic scene: Quantification of long bone microanatomy across pinnipeds. The Anatomical Record. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.70058Open Access

Rössner, G.E., Hampe, O. (2024). Terrestrial artiodactyl remains from the whale horizon at Groß Pampau (ancient North Sea Basin, North Germany; Serravallian-Tortonian boundary, Middle-Late Miocene). Fossil Imprint, 80(2), 424-434. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37520/fi.2024.030Open Access