The Skull

Keywords

Skull, brain, facial features, jaw, mandible, nose, eye sockets, cranial bones.

Introduction

We often look at the skull as a single bone that holds our brain, but in actual fact there are 22 bones in the skull.

What are the Functions of the Skull?

So, we know that the main function of the skull is to protect the brain, but does it do anything else? Well, yes. While the back side of the skull protects the brain from injury, it also houses the sensory devices in your central nervous system.

The other function of the skull is to give the face its features. The front of the skull supports facial structures, such as the nose, jaw and eye sockets. Even the ears are connected to the skull with 6 bones.

Interesting fact: there are a series of cavities in the skull that allow bloodflow and other mechanisms to pass through. These are called foramina.

The following YouTube video explains the bones included with the skull.

From this video, you can see that there are eight cranial bones. These are all situated around the back of the skull, and their sole purpose is to protect the brain. Notably, one of the bones that help protect the brain is also the main piece to form part of the eye socket. It is called the sphenoid, and looks like a butterfly.