GRANADA, Spain, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A Spanish researcher has received permission to examine remains buried in the Dominican Republic to determine if they are Christopher Columbus.
The remains are buried in a monument to the Admiral of the Ocean Sea, which the Dominican government says contain the true remains of the explorer, the Spanish news agency EFE reports.
Jose Antonio Lorente, the head of the University of Granada's Genetic Identification Lab, said he has been invited to take part in the removal of the bones from a crypt in the Columbus Lighthouse in Santo Domingo.
Lorente said his first visit will entail a visual examination of the remains, and if sufficient genetic material still exists to carry out DNA analysis, that would be done later.
In his will, Columbus wanted to be buried in the Dominican Republic, and eventually he was, but later his remains were to have been transferred to Spain. In 1877 workers at the Cathedral of Santo Domingo discovered a lead box believed to contain Columbus' bones.
