Abstract
"Middle Earth" is not a real place. Humans, dwarves, elves, and hobbits never lived together. But in the fall of 2004, Australian and Indonesian paleoanthropologists stunned the archeological world when they published evidence for hobbit-sized hominids (see "Who Were the Hominids?") that coexisted for a time with modern humans. Since their discovery, these little creatures have been at the center of a big scientific controversy. They have also prompted questions about the validity of RTB's views on human origins.