The two |temporal bones| form the lower sides of the |skull| and part of the cranial floor. They also protect the organs responsible for hearing and equilibrium. A canal (called the |external auditory meatus|) passes through the lower part of the |temporal bone| and admits the |ear| canal. The |temporal bone| features the zygomatic ~process~, which is a protrusion from the back part of the |temporal bone| which loops forward to meet the zygomatic (malar) bone to form the zygomatic arch. At the middle of this zygomatic arch is a small protrusion downward, called the |articular tubercle|. The front part of the |temporal bone|, forming the side of the |skull| slightly above and to the front of the |ear|, joins the greater wing of the |sphenoid bone| to compose the temple region of the |skull|. This frontal section of the |temporal bone| is called the |squamous part|, as it is also joined to the |parietal bone| at the |squamous suture|. The rearmost part of the |temporal bone| is referred to as the |mastoid process|. Sometimes also called the mastoid bone (because it is demarcated from the rest of the |temporal bone| by a suture line), this ~process~ joins the |occipital bone| at the lower ends of the |lambdoid suture|.
