Is the head considered an appendage of the physical body?

It is an integral part of the physical body.

Absolutely not. If we had no head, we would be dead.  You can see this in life.  If a person has their head chopped off, death is instant.  If they have a leg or arm or finger off, they still live, albeit without that limb.  It's the limbs which are appendages not the head ever.  The body can never live without the head, where the brain is to direct everything else in the body.  Now, what does any of this have to do with Religion and Spirituality? That is what I want to know