Petty-dwarves

All we can say for sure about the origins of the Petty-dwarves is what the Silmarillion tells us, that they '...came of Dwarves that were banished in ancient days from the great Dwarf-cities of the east...' (The Silmarillion 21 'Of Túrin Turambar'). Precisely which cities they had been banished from isn't clear, but they could not be Belegost or Nogrod, as these would not be built until long after the arrival of the Petty-dwarves in Beleriand. It is by no means impossible, though, that the first ancestors of this hidden, stunted race lived among the glories of old Khazad-dûm.