After centuries of speculation, scientists have confirmed the official resting place of Christopher Columbus. A team of forensics experts from University of Grenada, led by José Antonio Lorente, announced Thursday that DNA testing of bones interred at Spain’s Seville Cathedral has definitively identified them as belonging to the explorer who died in 1506.

The location of Columbus’ remains has long been a mystery, as his body was moved several times. Some experts believed he was buried in the Dominican Republic, while others thought he’d been laid to rest inside a tomb in Seville Cathedral. That tomb was opened in 2003, when the bones were found, but at the time, DNA technology couldn’t accurately read such small amounts of genetic material.

Researchers compared the DNA to remains of the explorer’s son and brother, who are also buried in Seville Cathedral, and who had bigger DNA samples to draw from.

Lorente said in a press conference Thursday, “Today, thanks to new technology, the previous partial theory that the remains in Seville are those of Christopher Columbus has been definitively confirmed.”

It’s unclear if researchers will test bone fragments found in a lead box labeled as Columbus’ in 1877 during an excavation of the Santo Domingo Cathedral in the Dominican Republic.

Scientists have also confirmed Columbus’ ethnicity, but they are withholding the details for now. Historians have for years debated Columbus’ origins, traditionally thought to be Genovese. Others have speculated he was Jewish, Greek, Basque, or Portuguese.

They plan to reveal their findings on Columbus’ ancestry in a documentary titled “Columbus DNA: The True Origin” on Spanish TV Saturday.

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