The posterior auricular artery is small and arises from the external carotid, above the Digastricus and Stylohyoideus, opposite the apex of the styloid process.

It ascends, under cover of the parotid gland, on the styloid process of the temporal bone, to the groove between the cartilage of the ear and the mastoid process, immediately above which it divides into its auricular and occipital branches.