The human skull is a bony structure, part of the skeleton, that is in the human head and which supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.
The adult human skull is said to consist of two categorical parts of different embryological origins: The neurocranium and the viscerocranium. The neurocranium (or braincase) is a protective vault surrounding the brain and brain stem. The viscerocranium (also splanchnocranium or facial skeleton) is formed by the bones supporting the face.
Except for the mandible, all of the bones of the skull are joined together by sutures, synarthrodial (immovable) joints formed by bony ossification, with Sharpey's fibres permitting some flexibility.
Read more about Human Skull: Components, Development of The Skull, Pathology, Craniometry and Morphology of Human Skulls, Sexual Dimorphism, Additional Images
Famous quotes containing the words human and/or skull:
“I should say tact was worth much more than wealth as a road to leadership.... I mean that subtle apprehension which teaches a person how to do and say the right thing at the right time. It coexists with very ordinary qualities, and yet many great geniuses are without it. Of all human qualities I consider it the most convenient—not always the highest; yet I would rather have it than many more shining qualities.”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
“O I shall hear skull skull,
Hear your lame music,
Believe music rejects undertaking,
Limps back.”
—Owen Dodson (b. 1914)