barry Wrote:
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> This might seem an extreme example, but what if
> some future historian came across Swift's Modest
> Proposal . Would that historian conclude that
> cannabilism existed in 18th century Europe?

No (assuming they could translate it correctly), but there might be groups in their civilization that would come to this conclusion.

Scientists and historians know (after long whacks and knocks) how silly it is to form conclusions based on one piece of evidence. They might know (if it was illustrated) something about the clothes and furniture and houses of the period and they might speculate about social order.

But they couldn't construct the world or the country from it.

This is the problem with pseudoscience -- it takes one piece of evidence, interprets it, and refuses to look at other evidence.