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1 Frontal bone
2 Parietal bone
3 Occipital bone
4 Sphenoid bone
5 Temporal bone
6 Ethmoid bone
7 Inferior nasal concha
8 Lacrimal bone
9 Nasal bone
10 Vomer
11 Maxilla
12 Palatine bone
13 Zygomatic bone
14 Mandible
15 Bony nasal cavity
16 Piriform aperture
17 Inferior nasal meatus
18 Middle nasal meatu
19 Orbit
Cranium
Anterior view
functions, that include protecting the delicate brain tissue, fi xing the vestibular apparatus of the inner ear in
three-dimensional space, maintaining open air passageways for respiration, and acquiring and processing
food, to name a few. There are two main subdivisions of the cranium — the neurocranium or brain box is the
region that surrounds and encases the brain, and the viscerocranium or facial skeleton is the area contributing
to the orbits, nasal cavity, and oral cavity. This page and the facing page, and the four page spreads that follow,
depict the fi ve normas, or views, of the cranium in both articulated and disarticulated cranial images. The
bones of the skull are labeled on these views, along with key landmarks that can only be labeled on the articu-
lated cranium. Individual landmarks of the bones are labeled on the individual pictures of the cranial bones on
the pages that follow. This spread is of the norma facialis or facial aspect of the cranium.
The cranium is the composite skeleton of the head and is composed of 29 bones.
The bones of the cranium range from simple, non-descript plates of bone to the
most intricate bones of the skeleton. The cranial bones have a range of important
Cranium
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