The cranium (general)

The Cranium, also called the "Skull," describes the skeleton of the head, face and mandible.
It is a portion of the axial skeleton, or that portion associated with the central nervous system. Those portions of the skeleton not associated with the central nervous system, are associated with the appendicular skeleton or the extremities (i.e., the arms and legs).
The axial skeleton consists of the cranium, all the osseous elements of the vertebral column, the ribs, and the sternum.
In an adult, various of the bones of the cranium are paired left and a right, while others, which cross the mid-sagittal plane, are unpaired. Furthermore, the bones of the skull are classified as those which are called Cranial Bones, or contribute to that portion surrounding the brain, or Facial Bones(i.e., those which do not assist in forming the braincase).

Each of the bones of the cranium posses a number of distinctive features which not only allow the bone to be identified, but also permit its exact location and orientation in the body to be determined (i.e., as a left or right, medial- lateral, posterior-anterior, inferior-superior, etc.).