The temple bone
Temporal bone · os temporale
The bone at the side of your skull that houses the ear and forms the jaw joint.
What it does
Each temporal bone sits beneath your temple and around your ear. It contains the ear canal, the tiny bones of hearing and the organs of balance, sealed inside the hardest bone in the body. The jaw hinges against it just in front of the ear, and the bump behind your ear is part of it.
Surprising fact
The dense petrous part of the temporal bone is the hardest bone in the body, and it preserves ancient DNA unusually well, so researchers often sample it from archaeological skulls.
Why it matters
Clicking or aching just in front of your ear when you chew comes from the jaw joint against this bone. Ear infections can spread into the air cells of the bump behind your ear.
Nearby
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Sources
Drafted with AI help; awaiting a human fact-check against these sources.
Open in the 3D atlas · Suggest a correction · Not medical advice.
3D models: Z-Anatomy & BodyParts3D (CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2.1 JP). Card text CC BY 4.0.