22 skull bones—or 29 in the head

In the standard anatomical count, an adult skull has 22 bones: 8 cranial and 14 facial bones. The number 29 also appears in teaching materials, but it usually means the 22 skull bones plus 6 auditory ossicles (three in each middle ear) and the hyoid bone. The hyoid is in the neck and the ossicles are in the middle ears, so 29 is better described as a broader count of bones associated with the head, not bones of the skull proper.