Hominids are the members of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), which includes the extant species of humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, as well as many extinct species. Very close members of the human subfamily, which would include Australopithecus (4.2 million years ago), Homo Habilis (2 - 1.5 million years ago), Home Erectus (1.2 - 0.5 million years ago) etc., are classified as Homininae.
Among these, the Homo Erectus lived in Asia and Europe, had a brain 74% as large as ours, and were on average 1.79m (5 feet, 10 inches) tall. Recent discoveries by a team of archaeologists indicate that the coast of the Caspian Sea in Mazandaran Province, Iran was home to the earliest such hominid habitation in that region:):).

Hominid skull (Courtesy: Wikipedia)Archaeologist Ali Mahforuzi said on Wednesday that 400,000-year-old stone tools discovered in the valleys of Shuresh near the Rostam Kola, Huto, and Kamarband caves are the oldest ever found in the area. Previous studies had indicated a human presence from about 50,000 years ago.
The studies were conducted by a joint team of archaeologists from the Mazandaran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department and archaeologists from the Mazandaran National Museum. The stone tools that were discovered were firmly dated to about 400,000 years old by Professor Marcel Otte of the University of Liege in Belgium.
More studies are currently being planned and conducted to find more about these ancient people:).