Bone still cartilaginous. The following steps are followed in the conversion of cartilage to bone: Bones have a variety of functions: Bones serve a variety of mechanical functions. Together the bones in the body form the skeleton. They provide a frame to keep the body supported, and an attachment point for skeletal muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints, which function together to generate and transfer forces so that individual body parts or the whole body can be manipulated in three-dimensional space (the interaction between bone and muscle is studied in biomechanics). Bones protect internal organs, such as the skull protecting the brain
Stylohyoid muscle and superior direction. Stylohyoid muscle The stylohyoid muscle is a slender muscle, lying anterior and superior of the posterior belly of the digastric muscle. It shares this muscle's innervation by the facial nerve, and functions to draw the hyoid bone backwards and elevate the tongue. Its origin is the styloid process of the temporal bone. It inserts on the body of the hyoid . It arises from the posterior and lateral surface of the styloid process of the temporal bone, near the base; and, passing inferior and anterior, it is inserted into the body of the hyoid bone, at its