when was lotr?

[Gurthang]

They could hardly be that old. I mean, think about it, it talks about how Sauron used war machines when he attacked Minas Tirith, and Saruman uses a gunpowder-like substance in his assault on Helm's Deep. These are fairly modern inventions when compared to the actual age of the earth.

Maybe it doesn't matter at all, because they lived on a hunk of the world that was seperated from Earth when Iluvatar changed the world.

Or maybe our Earth is just the place where men go when they die and leave ME.

The possibilities are endless...