The Skull
The skull is made up of 22 bones, that can be divided into two sets:
- The cranial bones, which house and protects the brain; and
- The facial bones, which form the skeleton of the face.
The cranial bones consist of 8 bones, while the facial bones comprises of 14 bones.
Cranial:
Cranial:
- Occipital bone
- Two Parietal bones
- Frontal bone
- Two Temporal bones
- Sphenoidal bone
- Ethmoidal bone
Facial:
- Two Nasal bones
- Two Maxillae bones
- Two Lacrimal bones
- Two Zygomatic bones
- Two Palatine bones
- Two Inferior Nasal Conchae
- Vomer
- Mandible
The Skull Sutures
Each bone in the skull is held together by an immovable joint called a suture. Listed below are the four prominent sutures of the skull:
- The coronal suture, which joins the frontal bone to the two parietal bones.
- The sagittal suture, which joins the two parietal bones together at the top of the skull.
- The lambdoid suture, which joins the two parietal bones to the occipital bone.
- The squamous sutures, which join the parietal bones to the temporal bones.
References
Grabowski, T. (2003) Principles of Anatomy and Physiology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Wilkinson, CM. (2004) Forensic Facial Reconstruction. Cambridge University Press.
Illustrations by Adrienne Barker
Wilkinson, CM. (2004) Forensic Facial Reconstruction. Cambridge University Press.
Illustrations by Adrienne Barker