The human skull does seem like a solid symbol of death, but that doesn't prevent us from turning something like the Catacombs of Paris into a tourist ground (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris). The intent here seems to require more than just a symbol of death.
Despite all the shift in cultural significance attached to skull&crossbones, etc. that the article discussed, I don't see how any culture could interpret a human skull by itself as anything other than a symbol of death.