any structural anomaly of the most inferior and deepest of the cranial fossae, located between the foramen magnum and tentorium cerebelli, which houses the brainstem and cerebellum; it is bounded anteriorly and medially by the dorsum sellae of the sphenoid bone; anteriorly and laterally by the superior border of the petrous part of the temporal bone; and posteriorly by the internal surface of the squamous part of the occipital bone; its floor consists of the mastoid part of the temporal bone and the squamous, condylar and basilar parts of the occipital bone