The bones of the axial skeleton are the bones that form the axis of the body: they are

- the bones of the skull (including the auditory ossicles and the hyoid bone),

- the bones of the thorax (the ribs and the breastbone)

- the bones of the vertebral column.

The axial skeleton supports the head, the neck and the trunk and protects the brain, the spinal cord and the organs in the thorax (lungs, heart, big blood vessels).