Except that given the time span he set his legendarium in, the ancient peoples of Europe were only just developing the genetic markers that contributed to their skin lightening. So the men of the 1st and 2nd Age should actually be mostly dark or tanned skinned.
Tolkien knew he wanted to set his stories on Earth, but he was going for pre-historic mythology, so the idea that he was aiming to encapsulate the ACTUAL Europeans of that time (which would all have been nomadic tribes of hunter gatherers) is silly. He also knew that the landmass he created didn't match up to what Europe looked like at any point in time. He knew that the time and place he was setting his stories in were completely imaginary, but rooted in the familiarity of Earth.
When asked what sort of clothing the people of Middle-earth wore he didn't say "that's easy, 10th century English clothing". He said he didn't know, but that it would be quite varied depending on location and custom and referenced the Bayeux Tapestry (11th century Normand horsemen) for Rohan and ancient Egypt for Numenor (specifically detailing the crown of Gondor as resembling that of Egyptian Pharaohs so more indicative of people who lived hundreds of years before the Romans even arrived in the Britain).