"Tolkien readily admitted that the concept of Middle-earth was not his own invention but was drawn from Anglo-Saxon and Norse mythology. But now there is another remarkable story to be told: the magical world of Middle-earth was more than a concept - it really existed." "Drawing on the latest historical and archaeological research, Professor Brian Bates shows that, stretching from Old England to Scandinavia and across to western Europe, from the Celts through the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, there arose about two thousand years ago a largely forgotten civilization which foreshadowed Tolkien's imagined world."--BOOK JACKET.