This is the flat, plate-like portion of the bone. It projects posterior and superior to the foramen magnum having a shallow internal concavity that houses the posterior lobes of the cerebral hemispheres and the cerebellum.

Occiput is Latin for the back portion of the head. It is derived from the prefix ob- meaning on, against, or opposite, combined with the Latin caput meaning head. Squama is Latin for scale, as in the scales of a fish or reptile. It has been used to denote thin flat structures in anatomy, such as bones or cells.

Squama occipitalis