Skulls in Art and Culture

The California Academy of Sciences has a brilliant pages on skulls. They had ToM at hello: how can you not love a site with menu options like "What is a skull?" and "Structure and function?" You can just imagine the Ask Jeeves questions that bring users to their site: "What would happen if my skull was surgically removed?"

But where the California Academy of Sciences really gets skull points is from their incredible Skulls in Culture page:

Skulls do more than just protect the brain — they also stimulate the mind. Often symbols of mortality and power, they have been employed in human ceremony, ritual, and art for tens of thousands of years. From the ancient animal skulls in Paleolithic burial sites to the curlicued cattle skulls that float like spirits over Georgia O’Keefe’s canvas mountains, cultures around the world have turned to skulls to express ideas about both life and death.

The skull-obsessed artists they cover comprise an excellent selection: H.R. Giger, José Guadalupe Posada, Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gogh, M.C. Escher and then, much to my disgust, the Grateful Dead.

Skulls in Culture [California Academy of Sciences]