What it is about the human SKULL that fills us with a sense of DOOM? Other bones don't have the same effect

Answer 1

I think it may be the fact that it looks roughtly like a face, and we identify faces with people. So the skull reminds us that this was once a living person, other bones do not seem to have this affect because we think of them as just bones. So when we see a skull we think this was once a living person and this leads us to the fact that one day we will die.

Answer 2

Anything which resembles or reminds us of a face evokes emotion. The skull obviously is an association with death, for many a sense of doom would be part of their emotional feelings. Whilst other animals rely on whole body lanugage, humans are more focused on the face for visual clues about how the other peson is feeling or what they are thinking, this is why I suspect it has more impact than other bones. It is strange however, that Elephants too have been noted to be facinated with the skulls of dead elephants, so maybe be we are not unique in this.

Answer 3

I think it is because it is recognisable as a human head. The other bones could belong to any animal so they are less frightening. I think people are very uncomfortable with their own mortality and skulls are a reminder that they are not immortal. They dont bother me though, I used to be an archaeologist so they just became normal.

Answer 4

It is the clearest symbol of man's mortality and our ultimate fate. A thigh bone or a spine might be disturbing to some, but the skull, with the empty eye sockets and evil, pained grin, embodies (ironically) the loss of life and the end of it all.

Cheers! (tee-hee)

Answer 5

when one dies, the skull is the last remnant of a corpse after its decay. Plus, the skull can show how the person died and what was the feeling of one when dying. A skull is the symbol of death and doom itself.

Answer 6

Because the face is that which allows one to pin an identity on someone. The skull is the face stripped of individuality and life.

Answer 7

It is our minds that perceive things, all things. When we see a skull we see an empty seat of where the mind once sat. Once the mind is gone, we know for sure that nothing is left. Lose an arm, lose a leg, we survive. Lose our heads and there is nothing left. It is a reminder of death.

Answer 8

Probably because if we saw an arm bone, it would be, "Oh well, that's too bad. Somebody lost an arm."

BUT, if we saw a skull it would mean somebody lost their life.

Good question, I've never thought about it before.

Answer 9

The skill does not fill me with doom

Answer 10

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your
gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let
her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must
come; make her laugh at that."