On May 20, 1506, a man died in Valladolid. On the 19th, a few hours earlier, he had dictated his will and signed it as “admiral, viceroy and governor (…) of the discovered and undiscovered Indies.” On the 21st, a few hours later, a handful of young men stripped his body, removing the flesh from the bones so that they would be better preserved.
One of the greatest mysteries in the history of Spain was born: the origin and end of Christopher Columbus.
Where is Columbus? Columbus’ remains spent two years in the Convent of San Francisco in Valladolid, then were moved to the chapel of Santa Ana de la Cartuja in Seville. In 1539, at the express wish of his son, they were moved to the Cathedral of Santo Domingo in what is now the Dominican Republic. In 1795, when Spain ceded the island to the French, the remains were moved to Havana and, after Cuba’s independence, they returned to Seville. To a huge catafalque in the Cathedral of Santa María de la Sede y de la Asunción.
But was it really there?
It seemed so, but doubts arose. In 1877, while the Santo Domingo Cathedral was undergoing renovations, a lead box was found with a text written on the outside (“Illustrious and distinguished man Christopher Columbus”) and some bone fragments inside.
For decades, there was a huge controversy over the true burial of Columbus. Fortunately, we learned to read DNA.
In search of Columbus. In 2003, a multidisciplinary team led by Jose Antonio Lorente opened the mausoleum in Seville Cathedral that had held the remains of Christopher Columbus for a century. Their intention was to solve the great enigmas once and for all.
The researchers found a “male, between 50 and 70 years old, with no signs of pathology, no osteoporosis and with some cavities. Mediterranean, moderately robust and of medium height.” Three years later, they managed to match the DNA with what were theoretically the remains of his son and his brother. And the most incredible thing is that, more than 500 years later, the samples matched. They were family.
Once the doubts about his burial place had been resolved, researchers realised that DNA could help to confirm some theories about the origin of the controversial sailor, but also that the technology was not yet mature enough. They decided to wait.
A 20-year pause. During this time, the remains of Christopher Columbus (four almond-sized fragments), those of his son Hernando (seven pieces, including a tooth) and those of his brother Diego (12 small, more deteriorated fragments) have been stored in a sealed chamber at the University of Granada.
In 2021, they reopened.
What are they going to do with them? Lorente’s team has decided to go all out. Over the past few months and in collaboration with many institutions around the world, they have tracked down all the theories about the sailor’s origin. And, here’s the interesting part, they have extracted samples to experimentally test all those theories.
For example, in November 2022, researchers carried out two exhumations in Poio and Vilagarcía, in Pontevedra. They thus opened a tomb that had been sealed since 1496.
“Today we have new generation techniques, both in the phase of DNA extraction from bone material and teeth, as well as in the amplification and analysis phases, which have evolved radically and are much more sensitive, allowing us to obtain more information from a very small sample size,” Lorente explained at the time.
How is the investigation going? Only the team knows. The months are piling up and the results are not coming. It was a possibility and Lorente himself explained in 2021 that “results were not going to be forced.” Now it has been the magazine Muy Interesante that has suggested that it will be this 2024 when we will finally see the results, but it is not clear.
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At WorldOfSoftware | When Columbus arrived in America, the Rapanui had already been there for two centuries. We have just found the definitive proof