Figure 1

Two items of the museum collection of the Department of Anatomy, University of Otago are shown to illustrate the cadaveric material used in this study. (A) The individual bones of an infant human neurocranium are depicted. The four bones used for mechanical tests are labelled in white, additional bones are labelled with grey color. (B) Crosado-embalmed and subsequently E12-plastinated cross-sections (horizontal plane) of a human adult head illustrates the varying thicknesses of the neurocranium in various regions. The asterisk (*) indicates a shrinkage-related artefact in the subdural space, which is caused by the dehydration and degreasing steps of both the Crosado embalming²⁷ and the E12 plastination²⁸.