Editing Axial skeleton (section)

===Human skull===

The human skull consists of the cranium and the facial bones. The cranium holds and protects the brain in a large space called the cranial vault. The cranium is formed from eight plate-shaped bones which fit together at meeting points (joints) called sutures. In addition there are 14 facial bones which form the lower front part of the skull. Together the 22 bones that compose the skull form additional, smaller spaces besides the cranial vault, such as the cavities for the eyes, the internal ear, the nose, and the mouth. The most important facial bones include the jaw or mandible, the upper jaw or maxilla, the zygomatic or cheek bone, and the nasal bone.<ref name="Features of the Human Skull">{{cite web|title=Features of the Human Skull |url=http://face-and-emotion.com/dataface/anatomy/cranium.jsp |publisher=Face and Emotion |access-date=25 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140214103337/http://face-and-emotion.com/dataface/anatomy/cranium.jsp |archive-date=14 February 2014 }}</ref>

Humans are born with separate plates which later fuse to allow flexibility as the skull passes through the pelvis and birth canal during birth. During development the eight separate plates of the immature bones fuse into one single structure known as the skull. The only bone that remains separate from the rest of the skull is the mandible.<ref name="Inner Body/Skull">{{cite web|title=Skull|url=http://www.innerbody.com/image_skelbov/skel06_new_bov.html|publisher=Inner Body|access-date=25 February 2014}}</ref>