I want every body to feal their back of their heads and tell me if you have a bump very important and cool!!!!

Question

Occipital bun is a morphological term used to describe a prominent bulge, or projection, of the occipital bone at the back of the skull. The term is most often used in connection with scientific descriptions of classic Neanderthal crania. While common among many of mankind's ancestors, primarily robust relatives rather than gracile, the protrusion is relatively rare in modern Homo sapiens.

Some scientists suspect occipital buns might correlate with the biomechanics of running. Another theory attributes them to enlargement of the cerebellum, a region of the cortex which mediates spatial reasoning, motor function, and many aspects of brain wave patterns, including gamma waves.

There are still many human populations which often exhibit occipital buns. A greater proportion of early modern Europeans had them, but prominent occipital buns even among Europeans are now relatively infrequent. They are still found fairly often among Lapp and Finn individuals. Bushmen fr

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

An occipital bun is actually VERY rare in modern populations (even in Europeans). It's not just the normal rounding of the back of the head. It's like a huge cinnamon roll grafted on to the back of the skull.

I'm a biological anthropologist, and I've never seen a true occipital bun on a post-paleolithic Homo sapiens.

Answer 2

I actually have a very pronounced bump in that area that is about an inch wide. I've had a doctor check it out before, so I know it's not a problem.

My heritage is mostly Norwegian and Scottish.

So what does it mean? That we have better spatial reasoning and motor function, or what?

Answer 3

I don't know about an occipital bun but I seem to have about a one-inch bump where my neck meets my skull-it could just be the lower edge of my skull, though. Also it could be a result of untreated whiplash. As far as nationalities, I think I'm a little bit of everything, mostly European but I think there's some Chinese and African in there somewhere also various Indian tribes. I just noticed it relieves some stress to press on it.

Answer 4

Yeah dude, I got this bump too. I am of Italian, Norwiegen, and Cherokee heritage.

So this bump makes me smarter than everyone else right? Time to take over the world...like I do every night.

Answer 5

Nope, mines in the front. Did it myself too! All my love AYMAN
http://www.indepundit.com/archive2/zawah…

No Neanderthal has anything on me!

Answer 6

I might have one but your description is quite vague if you don't mind me saying.

Answer 7

Im English and have this bump. Am i neanderthal throw back?? "Come to my cave pretty lady Uggggg" lol

lol @ Yug - Pinky and The Brain ace!!!

Answer 8

Stormsinger got it right, a true occiptal bun is very distinctive and not found on modern humans. A true Occiptal bun is very pronounced. I have provided links below to several examples of Neandertals that clearly show the occipt bunning, followed by some modern human examples - a large occipit is far from a bun - and then a comparison of both in one image.

As for the cause of bunning - another theory suggests it was an adaptation for the attachment of massive neck and jaw muscles that Neandertals clearly had - and this ties into other facial morphology adapted to using their teeth as a vice when cutting hides to make clothing.....

DM

Source(s):

NEANDERTAL
http://www.msu.edu/~heslipst/contents/AN…
http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo2/images/N…
http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo2/images/L…
http://www.sciam.com/media/inline/ECC43B…
MODERN
http://piclib.nhm.ac.uk/piclib/webimages…
http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo/images/Cr…
COMPARE
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-…

Answer 9

"a prominent bulge, or projection, of the occipital bone at the back of the skull."

This is the most descriptive you seem to get when trying to describe the occipital bun, but you fail to accurately describe what it is people "feel" when they touch the back of their heads.

Stormsinger & dmackey89 pretty well covered it. Modern humans may have a "bump" but it is far from an occipital bun. Most likely what people are feeling is the general rounding of the occipital bone, not a distinct morphological bun. It is not something that would be unnoticable until pointed out.

Answer 10

Dang!! How do u answer a lecture? I think I have that bump almost to the base of the skull !! That was pretty cool stuff...Thx!!