anatomy · section one
the skeleton 206 bones · 237 joints
Point at the drawing, or search for a bone by any name you know it by. Choosing one marks it in ink and turns everything it joins onto green, because a bone on its own tells you almost nothing — what it does is decided by what it is attached to.
point at a bone, or read the list
“ask me for one. all two hundred and six are in here.”
search the skeleton 62 entries, 206 bones
braincase Frontal bone front of the braincase - your forehead, brow ridges and the roof of each eye socket Parietal bone the paired curved plates that make most of the roof and sides of the braincase ×2 Temporal bone side of the skull at the ear - it also encases the organs of hearing and balance ×2 Occipital bone back and base of the skull, pierced by the big hole the spinal cord passes through Sphenoid bone wedged across the base of the skull, tying the braincase to the bones of the face Ethmoid bone between the eye sockets at the roof of the nose - the lightest of the eight cranial bones face Maxilla upper jaw - the paired bones carrying the upper teeth and forming the mid-face ×2 Zygomatic bone cheekbone - the strut between the eye socket and the arch in front of the ear ×2 Nasal bone the small paired bones making the hard bridge at the top of the nose ×2 Lacrimal bone a thin scale in the inner wall of each eye socket, cradling the tear duct ×2 Palatine bone l-shaped bone completing the back of the roof of the mouth, behind the upper jaw ×2 Inferior nasal concha a curled shelf of bone on each side wall of the nose, low in the nasal passage ×2 Vomer the thin ploughshare-shaped plate forming the lower back of the wall inside the nose Mandible the lower jaw - the largest and strongest bone of the face, carrying the lower teeth middle ear Malleus hammer-shaped middle ear bone fixed to the inner face of the eardrum ×2 Incus anvil-shaped middle ear bone, the middle link of the three-bone chain ×2 Stapes stirrup-shaped middle ear bone plugging the oval window into the inner ear ×2 throat Hyoid bone the u-shaped bone in the front of the neck, sitting above the voice box spine Atlas (C1) the ring-shaped first neck bone, the one the skull actually sits on Axis (C2) the second neck bone, whose upright peg lets the skull and atlas swivel Cervical vertebrae (C3-C7) the five lower neck bones, c3 to c7, small and light with a hole in each side wing ×5 Thoracic vertebrae (T1-T12) the twelve vertebrae of the upper back, each one holding a pair of ribs ×12 Lumbar vertebrae (L1-L5) the five thick low-back vertebrae between the lowest ribs and the pelvis ×5 Sacrum the triangular block of five fused vertebrae wedged between the two hip bones Coccyx the tailbone - three to five shrunken vertebrae fused at the very bottom of the spine chest Sternum flat bone down the front of the chest that the ribs and collarbones attach to True ribs (pairs 1-7) the upper seven rib pairs, each reaching the breastbone by its own costal cartilage ×14 False ribs (pairs 8-10) rib pairs 8-10, joined to the breastbone indirectly through the cartilage above ×6 Floating ribs (pairs 11-12) rib pairs 11-12, attached to the spine at the back and to nothing at the front ×4 shoulder Clavicle s-shaped strut across the top of the chest, joining the breastbone to the shoulder blade ×2 Scapula flat triangular bone on the back of the ribcage that carries the shoulder socket ×2 arm Humerus the single long bone of the upper arm, running from the shoulder socket to the elbow ×2 Radius the thumb-side bone of the forearm, running from the elbow to the wrist ×2 Ulna the little-finger-side forearm bone, forming the point of the elbow ×2 wrist and hand Scaphoid boat-shaped wrist bone at the base of the thumb, in the row nearest the forearm ×2 Lunate crescent-shaped wrist bone in the middle of the row nearest the forearm ×2 Triquetrum pyramid-shaped wrist bone on the little-finger side of the row nearest the forearm ×2 Pisiform pea-sized wrist bone sitting on the front of the triquetrum, embedded in a tendon ×2 Trapezium wrist bone of the far row at the base of the thumb, carrying the thumb's saddle joint ×2 Trapezoid small wedge-shaped wrist bone of the far row, behind the index finger ×2 Capitate largest wrist bone, sitting in the centre of the far row behind the middle finger ×2 Hamate wedge-shaped wrist bone of the far row with a hook projecting from its palm side ×2 Metacarpals (I-V) five long bones forming the palm of each hand, between the wrist bones and the fingers ×10 Proximal phalanges of the hand first row of finger bones, from the knuckles out to the middle joint of each digit ×10 Middle phalanges of the hand middle row of finger bones, present in the four fingers but absent in the thumb ×8 Distal phalanges of the hand fingertip bones, one at the end of each digit, carrying the nail and the finger pad ×10 pelvis Hip bone broad fused plate of the pelvis, linking the base of the spine to the thigh ×2 leg Femur the single long bone of the thigh, running from the hip socket down to the knee ×2 Patella small shield of bone set inside the tendon at the front of the knee ×2 Tibia the thick inner bone of the lower leg, from the knee down to the inner ankle ×2 Fibula the slender outer bone of the lower leg, ending as the bump on the outer ankle ×2 ankle and foot Talus the bone that sits on the heel bone and locks into the ankle to take the leg's weight ×2 Calcaneus the large block of bone that forms the heel and the back end of the foot's arch ×2 Navicular bone boat-shaped bone of the inner midfoot, between the ankle bone and the three wedges ×2 Cuboid bone cube-shaped bone of the outer midfoot, between the heel bone and the outer two toe rays ×2 Medial cuneiform the largest of the three wedge bones, carrying the big toe's long bone at the inner arch ×2 Intermediate cuneiform the smallest wedge bone, set back between its two neighbours in the midfoot ×2 Lateral cuneiform the outer wedge bone, wedged between the middle wedge and the cuboid ×2 Metatarsals (I-V) five long bones in each foot, spanning the midfoot to the base of each toe ×10 Proximal phalanges of the foot the first bone of each toe, one per toe, starting at the knuckles of the ball of the foot ×10 Middle phalanges of the foot the short middle bone of each of the four small toes - the big toe has none ×8 Distal phalanges of the foot the last bone of each toe, flattened at the tip and carrying the toenail ×10