Parietal bone

Last revised by Yahya Baba on 20 Oct 2021

The parietal bone is a paired, irregular, quadrilateral skull bone that forms the sides and roof of the cranium

The parietal bone has four borders, four angles, and external/internal surfaces.

The four borders are:

  • frontal
  • sagittal
  • occipital (half of lambdoid suture)
  • squamous temporal

The four angles are:

  • sphenoid
  • mastoid
  • occipital
  • frontal

The external surface is convex and smooth and has several features:

  • parietal eminence
  • superior temporal line for attachment of temporalis fascia
  • inferior temporal lines for attachment of temporalis muscle
  • parietal foramen contains an emissary vein to superior sagittal sinus

The internal surface is concave and contains grooves for the middle meningeal vessels and the sagittal sulcus.

The parietal bone articulates with five other bones:

ADVERTISEMENT: Supporters see fewer/no ads

Updating… Please wait.

 Unable to process the form. Check for errors and try again.

 Thank you for updating your details.