skull

skull The human skull has been rich in symbolism over the course of Western history. The skull as an emblem of death appeared as a result of the casualties brought on by the bubonic plague or the Black Death that ravaged the inhabitants of Europe throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Dance of Death, which portrayed men and women of all classes dancing with a skeleton, became a popular artistic motif.

The skull as an intimation of death was also an obvious aspect of sixteenth-century century fashion and art. In the early decades of the century, portraits had skulls printed on the back in order to symbolize the inevitable demise of the sitter. Men and women of the upper classes wore medallions engraved with skulls and ivory heads as jewelry. These objects normally portrayed a living face on one side and the human skull on the other side. The mementos were to remind both the wearer and the onlooker of death and their obligation to lead moral lives. The keepsakes also revealed the tension experienced by members of the upper classes who desired to display their wealth while appearing to obey the dictates of Christian piety.

In the eighteenth century, Caribbean pirates flew flags that featured the human skull and crossbones. The symbol, known as the Jolly Roger, may have been a corruption of joli rouge (pretty red), the original colour of the flag. The phrase also may have referred to a pirate known as ‘Ali Raja’ or simply have designated the British term for devil, vagabond, and rogue. The eighteenth-century French pirate Emanuel Wynne was the first to use the skull and crossbones. Wynne also displayed an hourglass on his flag to indicate that time was running out for his intended victims.

In the twentieth century, the Nazi SS adopted the human skull and crossbones, called Death's Head, as the badge of their organization. The Totenkopfverbande, or ‘Death's Head units’, were among the most élite and most feared members of the SS. Taking their name from the death's head symbol they wore on the right collar of their uniform, the Totenkopfverbande initially guarded concentration camps, but their role was expanded to include military service, most prominently in Poland and the Soviet Union, where they were responsible for killing Jews, soldiers, and civilians.

The human skull and crossbones have not simply been the mark of infamous men and women; more significantly, they have warned young and old alike of the dangers posed by poisons, toxins, and other hazardous materials. The poison symbol is successful because it is easily identifiable and can be understood by those who are unable to read.

Finally, the human skull figured in nineteenth-century scientific debates, especially those that concerned the attributes of the various races. Practitioners of craniometry, or the science of measuring skulls, maintained that they possessed empirical evidence that showed the superiority of Caucasians over other races. Nineteenth-century criminal anthropologist Cesare Lombroso employed craniometry to bolster his claim that criminals possessed an innate predilection to commit crimes. Lombroso said large jaws, low and narrow foreheads, and smaller cranial capacity were characteristics of natural-born criminals.

Like craniometry, phrenology flourished in the nineteenth century in the US and Europe as a way to determine the future successes and setbacks of men and women. The phrenologist professed that by studying the shape of a subject's skull he or she could determine the person's unique attributes and abilities. The size and form of the cranium revealed the character of the phrenologist's client.

Structure and evolution

Anatomically, the adult cranium is an extremely complex region of the skeleton. It comprises some 27 bones, forming two components, — the neurocranium (brainbox) and the splanchnocranium (face). The neurocranium consists of a base and vault whose side walls and roof complete the protective encasing around the delicate brain. The splanchnocranium houses and protects many of the organs of special sense — sight, smell, and taste — as well as accommodating the first part of both the respiratory and alimentary tracts. The upper part of this face-skeleton forms the orbits and nose, whilst the lower part, together with the mandible, forms the jaws. The face is probably the most expressive aspect of human anatomy and this is made possible by more than 50 muscles that attach to the underlying skull. Despite the mobility which these provide, with the exception of the small bones of the middle ear there are only two moving joints in the entire face region, and even they cannot move independently, as the two sides must work in unison. The free movement of the jaw at these temporomandibular joints is critical to the success of both phonation (speech) and mastication (chewing). In historical times, infection of the joint could lead to ankylosis (fusion), which was obviously not compatible with sustained life.

The skull is probably the region of the human body that is most avidly studied with respect to human evolution. The size of the neurocranium and its size relative to the splanchnocranium have been critical to the definition of the hominid lineage. The apes tend to possess a relatively smaller neurocranium and larger face than modern man and his immediate ancestors. The modern human face is suspended under the brain, having rotated backwards and downwards underneath the neurocranium, whilst the brain has extended above and over the top of the face, giving modern man his characteristically high forehead that protects the frontal lobes of the brain.

Development and growth

In the child, the neurocranium develops in parallel with the early maturation of the central nervous system, whilst the splanchnocranium lags behind and is more closely linked to the development of the teeth. Hence the ‘cutesy’ and non-threatening appeal of baby cartoon characters with big eyes, a big head, and a small face. This early development of the brain along with its protective case has enormous implications with regard to the evolution of man and encephalization in particular. This is the study of the degree to which the nervous system of the human fetus matures in utero. Compared with all other animals, including other primates, human babies are born with relatively big heads that house a large brain. During the early part of this century, before Caesarean sections were commonplace or indeed safe, pelvimetry (measurements of the maternal pelvis) was frequently employed in an attempt to predict the outcome of labour. Cephalopelvic disproportion — when the baby's head was too large to pass successfully through the birth canal — was a serious clinical concern, as it led to high levels of fetomaternal mortality. However, to overcome this transitory problem, the fetal skull retains considerable flexibility, as the bones are not fully formed and so can ride over each other as the head passes down through the birth canal. It is whimsical to suppose that perhaps new-born babies cry because they start life with a blinding headache!

Forensic applications

In physical and forensic anthropology, the skull is extremely informative with regard to the identification of sex, age at death, and racial assignation. It also plays a pivotal role in establishing the identity of the deceased — it has been described as the ‘bony core of the fleshy head and face’. There are various techniques available to the forensic investigator in this context. To confirm or reject a proposed identity, the skull of the deceased can be compared with a portrait or photograph of the person during life; the image of the skull, live on camera, is superimposed on the static photograph until the correct sizing and orientation are achieved. Then, using specific anatomical landmarks, the ‘degree of fit’ of the two images can be assessed. When the identity is entirely unknown, facial reconstruction is employed. This can be achieved either by computerized methods, where a standard face is wrapped around the scanned image of the skull, or alternatively by clay modelling. The latter approach requires a considerable degree of skill and generally leads to a more realistic image of the deceased. The function of facial reconstruction is not necessarily to produce a near-photographic image of the deceased, but more realistically to strike a chord with family or friends of a missing person. Such was the case of a young man who was found on the top of a Scottish mountain. He had been dead for nearly two years when he was found accidentally by two climbers. Investigations by the local police did not lead to any success in his identification and so it was decided to reconstruct his face. The outcome was shown on the television programme Crimewatch and was picked up by its French television counterpart. It was recognized by a French family who knew that their son had gone walking in Scotland before he went missing, but whose own investigations had been unsuccessful. A simple DNA test confirmed his identity. Such is the way, in osteology, that the dry bones have, of coming back to life to tell their own story.

Karol K. Weaver, and Sue M. Black

Bibliography

Aiello, L. and and Dean, C. D. (1990). An introduction to human evolutionary anatomy. Academic Press, London.
Cohen, K. (1973). Metamorphosis of a death symbol: the transi tomb in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Davies, J. D. (1955). Phrenology fad and science: a nineteenth-century American crusade. Yale University Press, New Haven.
Reichs, K. J. (1998). Forensic osteology: advances in the identification of human remains, (2nd edn). CC Thomas, Springfield, Illinois.
Scheuer, J. L. and and Black, S. M. (2000). Developmental juvenile osteology. Academic Press.

See also anthropology; craniometry; evolution; phrenology; skeleton; skull-shaping.