?: To Get the Juicy Soft Tissue, is it best to start at the bottom or top of the skull?

When excavating a skull (as part of the Giant's Remains found in the Mistlands) I find more success at the bottom, there's a greater chance of the whole thing collapsing and giving up all its goodies whereas that almost never happens when you start from the top. And, if you start from the top, there's a lot of black stone skull to pickax your way through.