Recent advances in genome sequencing technologies and the rapid decline in the cost of sequencing have enabled researchers to study the genomics of ancient populations. In the past decade, ancient population genomic studies led to a number of important discoveries that revealed the (1) relationship between modern and archaic humans such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, (2) contribution of ancient but anatomically modern humans to the ancestry of populations living today, (3) temporal dynamics of ancient population sizes in response to climate change, (4) role of natural selection in shaping the evolution of phenotypes, (5) origins of animal domestication, (6) divergence times between ancient and modern populations and (7) evolution of human pathogens.