The Hattians
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The Hattians were an ancient people who resided in Central Anatolia at least as earky as 2300 BC. The 'Land of the Hatti' is the oldest name for Central Anatolia, and is found on Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets. The Hattians were Caucasian-speaking, and in particular, thought to be Proto-Circassic or related to the Abkhazo-Adyghe people, according to the linguist and scholar Alexei Kassian, among others. They were distinct from the Hittites, who preserved elements of the Hattian language (Hattili) in their own archives and on clay tablets. These remnants of the Hattian language are mostly narrowed down to Hattian deities, as well as personal and place-names. The Hattian language was subject-object-verb.
The Hattians were organised in city-states and small kingdoms. These cities were well-organised and had an established hierarchy. The Hattians appear to have had continued contact with the Assyrians in Mesopotamia, and probably employed scribes who could understand Old Assyrian.

The Hattian natural religion has origins in the Stone Age. It involves worship of the Earth, which is represented as a mother goddess, Kattahha, who was venerated to ensure the growth of their crops and the continuation of their own good health and vitality. Other elemental deities were worshipped, such as the storm-god Taru, represented by a bull, and the sun-goddess Furushemu (Wurunshemu), represented by a leopard. The Hattian pantheon was later merged into that of the Hittites, and the Hittite legends of Telipinu and Illuyanka have their origins in the Hattian religions.

Many historians, including Ekrem Akurgal, have differentiated the Hattians from the Hittites, who brought a different type with them from their place of origin. The Egyptian depictions of the Battle of Kadesh appear to show long-nosed 'Hattian' soldiers. It is believed by many anthropologists that the Hattians are the ancestors of the Pontid type.