Editing British Israelism (section)

===Historical speculation===
British Israelism rests on linking different ancient populations. This includes linking the "lost" tribes of Israel with the Scythians, Cimmerians, Celts, and modern [[Western Europe]]ans such as the British. To support these links, some adherents believe that similarities exist between various cultural aspects of these population groups, and they argue that these links demonstrate the migration of the "lost" Israelites in a westerly direction. Examples given include [[burial]] customs, metalwork, clothing, dietary customs, and more.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=UCG |title=The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy |url=http://www.ucg.org/booklets/US/archaelogical.htm |access-date=14 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205163627/http://www.ucg.org/booklets/us/archaelogical.htm |archive-date=5 December 2008}}</ref> Dimont argues that the customs of the Scythians and the Cimmerians are in contrast to those of the Ancient Israelites,<ref name=Dimont1933/>{{rp|7–10}} and he further dismisses the connection between these populations and the Saxons and Celts, particularly criticizing the then-current formulations of British Israelism that would interject Semites between the closely related English and Germans.<ref name=Dimont1933/>{{rp|10–11}}

The Scythian origin of the Scots has been referred to as mythical.<ref name=Todd1848>{{cite book |last=Todd |first=James Henthorn |title=The Irish Version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius |year=1848 |publisher=Irish Archæological Society |location=Dublin |page=xcvii |chapter=Editor's Preface |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/irishversionhis00socigoog}}</ref><ref name=Klieforth>{{cite book |last1=Klieforth |first1=Alexander Leslie |last2=Munro |first2=Robert John |title=The Scottish invention of America, Democracy and Human Rights: A History of Liberty and Freedom from the Ancient Celts to the New Millennium |publisher=University Press of America, Inc. |location=Dallas |year=2004 |page=5 |isbn=978-0761827917}}</ref> Algernon Herbert, writing in 1848, characterized the linguistic derivation of Scots from ''Scoloti'' as "strictly impossible",<ref name=Todd1848/> and Merrill (2005) referred to it as [[false etymology]].<ref name=Merrill/>

Addressing their view on the fate of the exiled tribes, Frank Boys said of their voluminous output, "All the effort to write these volumes might well have been saved on the premise that 'they were never lost,' which we believe to be the correct one."<ref name=Spittler/>