"In summary, artistic license is:
* Entirely at the artist's discretion
* Intended to be tolerated by the viewer (cf. "willing suspension of disbelief")[3]
* Useful for filling in gaps, whether they be factual, compositional, historical or other gaps[4]
* Used consciously or unconsciously, intentionally or unintentionally or in tandem[5]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistic_license (Emphasis added)
The elements I referred to from the forensic reconstructions (which are sculptures, and hence, art) meet all those criteria. They are created by forensic artists, and the elements which use license are at the artist's discretion, as we can see from the varying reconstructions they come up with. There is an assumption that we will tolerate such variations. The variations are due to the license that the artists use to fill in gaps in our knowledge of the specimens. Criteria #4 is silly, since it's impossible to fail, so they meet that as well.
But that's exactly my point: nothing in those reconstructions is "entirely at the artist's discretion."
Instead, everything must be justified by our best scientific understandings of what those features were.
Boogieman: "* Intended to be tolerated by the viewer..."
No, exactly the opposite: the artists work is intended to be reviewed, inspected and approved by the most knowledgeable scientific minds available.
In that sense, they're like police lab forensic artists -- no deviations from known facts can be tolerated, period.
Boogieman: "* Useful for filling in gaps, whether they be factual, compositional, historical or other gaps[4]"
Sure, however the rule is not "anything goes", but rather: where precise facts are not known, use the most likely estimates available, subject to scientific review & approval.
Bottom line here: you are using that term "artistic license" to discredit their work, implying it's nothing more than wild imaginations.
I'm merely saying that by necessity, everything the artists do must conform to the best available evidence, and is subject to scientific review & approval.
So what, exactly, is your problem with that, FRiend?