Before we move on to look at the muscles, let’s review what we’ve seen of the bones, joints and ligaments of this very fundamental part of the head and neck.
Here’s the occipital bone, and the temporal bone. Here are the basal part, and the squamous part of the occipital bone; the foramen magnum, the occipital condyles, the external occipital protuberance, the superior, and inferior nuchal lines.
On the temporal bone here’s the petrous part, and the squamous part. Here are the mastoid process, the zygomatic arch, and the surface for the temporomandibular joint.
Here’s the external auditory meatus, and the styloid process; the stylo-mastoid foramen, the carotid canal, the jugular foramen, and the hypoglossal canal.
On a typical cervical vertebra, here’s the body, the neural arch, the vertebral foramen, the spinous process, the transverse processes, the articular surfaces, and the articular pillar.
On the atlas vertebra, here’s the anterior arch, the posterior arch, and the lateral bodies. On the axis vertebra here’s the odontoid process. Here are the intervertebral joints, and the intervertebral disks.
Here are the atlanto-occipital, and atlanto-axial joints. Here’s the nuchal ligament, the anterior longitudinal ligament, the posterior longitudinal ligament, and the tectorial membrane.
Here’s the cruciform ligament consisting of the transverse ligament of the atlas, the superior band, and the inferior band, and here are the two alar ligaments.