The human skull integrates functions from these distinct categories:
- It serves as the scaffold for the primary senses that guide Vertebrate behavior. It is the apex of the Locomotive Core.
- It serves as the mechanism to bring energy and nutrition into the organism.
- It serves as the container for our complex neurology which has enabled our success as a species.
- It is the primary mechanism of communication between members of our species.
The head, therefore, has a functional relationship with all of our Cores, with every paradigm of Dimensional Evolution, and with every Archetype discussed on this website. It is a Hologram of the organism, with characteristics so contained and distinct that it is the skeletal attribute most useful for identifying and characterizing species.
Clarifying our understanding of how the structure of the head facilitates its functional roles can aid us in how we move as well as in how we approach the head therapeutically This section of papers on the head attempts to separate the distinct functional roles into their relationships to our Structural Cores, making connections to the relevant evolutionary progression and archetypal space. To this writer’s knowledge, our only other attribute that expresses a similar level of complexity is our feet, which are discussed in a special section:
FEET
The sections below discussed a range of attributes of the structure and function of the head:
MOVEMENTS OF THE HEAD
Vertebrates coevolved increasingly complex abilities to orient their heads as they acquired enhanced motor functions. In attaining upright posture we had to reorient all of these movements 90° to retain our stereoscopic vision parallel to the horizontal plane.
Section: MOVEMENTS OF THE HEAD
THE MOUTH
The functional roles of the mouth, which include acquiring energy and nutrients, predates the emergence of Vertebrates and is most closely associated with our gut neurophysiology. However, vertebrate mastery of linear movement tightly correlates to the function of the jaw, at the level of reflexes, in its role of aggressive acquisition of resources. In human neurophysiology, there is a strong linkage between the Locomotive Core and the jaw.
Paper: THE MOUTH
THE FACE
Facial expressions and our ability to read them coevolved with our capacity to organize as a group, enabling specialization beyond genetic potentials. This is a characteristic of Mammals, and particularly our species, with its advanced specialization potentials facilitated by our Manipulation Core. Our species exploration of the space revealed to us by functioning as a group is discussed in the section on the Social Archetype.
Paper: THE FACE
MOVEMENT OF THE CRANIAL BONES
The question of whether the articulations between the eight bones of our craniums retain flexibility after maturation is controversial. Here is a paper on this writer’s perspective:
Paper: DISCUSSION OF MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THE CRANIAL VAULT
META READING
Overview of discussions on our Locomotive Core:
LOCOMOTIVE CORE
Overview of discussions on our core neurophysiology:
THE FOUR CORES
Overview of models presented on this site:
MODELS