500-year-old mystery solved as Christopher Columbus’ remains ‘absolutely confirmed’ using new DNA evidence

12 October 2024, 07:56 | Updated: 12 October 2024, 08:01

A 500-year-old mystery has finally been solved after the remains of intrepid explorer Sir Christopher Columbus were confirmed by scientists.

A crack team of scientists have spent the past 20 years conducting a range of advance DNA testing on the remains to confirm the long-held theory.

Now, the DNA analysis on the bones – which were found buried beneath Spain’s Seville Cathedral – have been confirmed with ‘absolute certainty’ to belong to the explorer.

The findings come days before Columbus Day, the US holiday dedicated to the explorer’s discovery of the ‘New World’.

The new testing allows trace amounts of residual DNA to be compared – in this case, to DNA taken from the explorer’s son, Hernando, and brother Diego, who were also buried beneath Seville Cathedral.

Taking place on the second Monday in October each year, in a bid to commemorate the explorer’s discovery of the ‘New World’ for Spain on October 12, 1492.

Miguel Lorente, a scientist who headed up the research, said on Thursday: ‘Today it has been possible to verify it with new technologies, so that the previous partial theory that the remains of Seville belong to Christopher Columbus has been definitively confirmed.’

Columbus, an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa, died in 1506.

Since his death, the remains have been moved several times, with some experts claiming the explorer had previously been buried in the Dominican Republic.

Read more: Chilling discovery as ‘partial remains’ of missing British explorer Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine found on Everest after 100 years

Despite experts believing for years that the hidden tomb beneath the cathedral held the explorer’s remains, it was not until 2003 that Lorente and historian Marcial Castro were granted permission to open it.

Despite the volume of data, Lorente stated that “the outcome is almost absolutely reliable.”

Hidden inside were the unidentified bones, now confirmed as those of Columbus, ending the 500 year mystery.

It comes a day after it was revealed the partial remains of legendary British explorer ‘Sandy’ Irvine, who disappeared more than 100 years ago, are believed to have been discovered on Mount Everest.

Andrew Comyn “Sandy” Irvine, then aged 22, vanished on the mountain on June 8, 1924 after setting off on an expedition hoping to conquer the legendary peak.

Up until now, there had been widespread speculation surrounding the explorer‘s fate, with the remains of his climbing partner, renowned mountaineer George Mallory, only uncovered in 1999.