Hobbits Existed--and Middle Earth Too!

Around a decade ago, researchers found skeletal remains on a Pacific island of small sized humans.  Recent analysis shows bone structure in the wrists of the hobbits different than Neanderthals and Cromagnons, modern humans, homo erectus.

[A study in the Journal of Human Evolution shows hobbit wrists were different than modern human and Neanderthal wrists, which researchers believe is proof that they were their own species — not just very small humans.]
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/11/weird_news_hobbits_are_still_real/

J. R. R. Tolkein, writer of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, used sites of his youth in Birmingham, England,  as scenes in is works.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/centralengland/739039/Sites-that-shaped-Tolkiens-Lord-of-the-Rings.html

http://www.birminghamconservationtrust.org/2010/06/30/birmingham%E2%80%99s-influence-on-the-writings-of-j-r-r-tolkien/