Statistical methods for analyzing ancient DNA from hominins

In the past few years, the number of autosomal DNA sequences from human fossils has grown explosively and numerous partial or complete sequences are available from our closest relatives, Neanderthal and Denisovans. I review commonly used statistical methods applied to these sequences. These methods fall into three broad classes: methods for estimating levels of contamination, descriptive methods, and methods based on population genetic models. The latter two classes are largely methods developed for the analysis of present-day genomic data. When they are applied to ancient DNA (aDNA), they usually ignore the time dimension. A few methods, particularly those concerned with inferring something about selection or ancestor-descendant relationships, take explicit account of the ages of aDNA samples.