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In the previous section, you should have learned the names bones in the skull. On this page you will find these bones along with their corresponding bony features, such as processes, fossae and foramina. Note that the foramina will be covered in the next section.
What’s the point? All of the cranial nerves have to get out of the skull, or into the skull to allow for their motor and/or sensory functions. Blood vessels have to enter and exit the skull. You simply have to know what’s going where and through which hole. Spend some time learning these bony features before moving on to the next section.
Cranial Osteology: Boney Features of the Skull
Cranial Osteology: Boney Features of the Skull
Grooves for the middle meningeal aa. - arteries that supply blood to the meninges
Frontal sinus - mucosa lined air space within the bone
Parietal bone
Grooves for the middle meningeal aa.
Groove for the transverse sinus (one of the dural venous sinuses; drains blood to the sigmoid sinus)
External occipital protuberance - attachment point for the trapezius m.
Temporal bone - consists of a squamous (flat) portion and a petrous (rough) portion
Zygomatic process - forms the posterior part of the zygomatic arch
Mastoid process - attachment site of the sternocleidomastoid m
Styloid process - attachment site for the digastric and stylohyoid mm.
Mandibular (glenoid) fossa - site for articulation with the mandible (lower jaw)
Groove for the sigmoid sinus (one of the dural venous sinuses; the sigmoid sinus exits the skull and becomes the internal jugular vein)
Grooves for the middle meningeal aa.
Note that both the maxilla and the temporal bone have zygomatic processes (they both articulate with the zygomatic bone).
Frontal sinusAppreciate the grooves for the middle meningeal arteries as well as the frontal sinus (highlighted in blue).
Middle meningeal aa.Note the course of the middle meningeal arteries, particularly across the frontal and parietal bones.
External occipital protuberance (red)
Occipital condyles (blue)
Groove for transverse sinus
External view of the right temporal bone
Lateral skull and right temporal bone
Groove for the sigmoid sinus (arrow)
Features of the mandible
Features of the mandible (medial view)
Mandible - the lower jaw
Ramus
Body
Angle
Condylar process
Coronoid process
Mandibular notch
Lingula
Maxilla - the upper jaw
Zygomatic process - joins with the zygomatic bone
Zygomatic bone
Frontal process - joins with the frontal bone
Zygomatic arch - made up of the temporal process of the zygomatic bone and the zygomatic process of the temporal bone. The temporalis m. passes deep to the zygomatic arch to attach to the coronoid process of the mandible.
Features of the Maxilla
Features of the zygomatic bone (green)
The temporalis m. relative to the zygomatic arch
The zygomatic arch
Anterior view of the sphenoid bone
Sphenoid bone (superior view)Note the grooves for the middle meningeal arteries visible in this figure in the greater wing of the sphenoid bone.
Features of the ethmoid bone (anterior view)
Features of the ethmoid bone (superior view)
Sphenoid sinus - an air sinus in the body of the sphenoid bone (directly underneath the sella turcica)
Greater and lesser wings - wing-shaped lateral extensions of the sphenoid bone
Pterygoid process - made of of medial and lateral plates with a pterygoid fossa between the plates; the plates are the sites of attachment of the medial and lateral pterygoid muscles (two of the four muscles of mastication) Sphenoid bone (continued)
Sella turcica (“turkish saddle”) - a saddle shaped depression in the body of the sphenoid bone that contains the pituitary gland
Grooves for the middle meningeal aa.
Crista galli - thin vertical bony eminance that serves as an attachment point for the falx cerebri (one of the dural folds)
Cribiform plate - paired, thin bony plates on either side of the crista galli with multiple holes that allow branches of the olfactory nerve (CN I) to pass into the nasal cavity
Perpendicular plate - inside the nasal cavity; forms the superior part of the bony nasal septum
HELPFUL HINTS
HELPFUL HINTS
You may have noticed that the vomer, nasal and palatine bones are not included in this section. You should be able to identify these bones, but you do not need to be aware of any of their bony features.
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