MADRID -- Who was Christopher Columbus - an Italian weaver's son or a Spanish aristocrat? Where does he lie buried -- in the southern Spanish city of Seville or in the Dominican Republic? A group of Spanish scientists intends to use DNA testing to solve the old enigmas surrounding the birth and burial of the discoverer of the new world.

Two places currently claim to watch over Columbus' remains: The vast gothic cathedral of Seville and a towering monument known as the Columbus Lighthouse in the Dominican capital Santo Domingo, DPA said.

If the Spanish Catholic Church and the Dominican authorities grant permission, both sets of bones will shortly be dug up to extract DNA strands and to compare them with DNA from Columbus' brother Diego and son Hernando.

It is generally believed that Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 to the family of a wool weaver in the Italian port of Genoa -- yet the admiral is not known to have visited Genoa later in life, and always wrote in Spanish.

Some experts remain convinced that Columbus was not born in Italy, but on the Spanish island of Majorca, the illegitimate son of a prince of Viana and a local woman.

Still other theories claim that Columbus came from a Genoan family of Spanish-Jewish origin or from a wealthy Jewish family who lived on the island of Ibiza.

Columbus' final resting place is as mysterious as that of his birth.

The navigator died in 1506 in relative obscurity in the Spanish city of Valladolid, from where his remains were taken to a Seville monastery a few years later.

Around 1537, Columbus' remains were shipped to Santo Domingo on the Caribbean island then known as Hispaniola, since he wished to be buried in the Americas.

In 1795, when Spain ceded Santo Domingo to France, bones which were believed to be those of Columbus were taken to the Cuban capital Havana to allow them to rest on Spanish soil.

When the Spaniards were thrown out of Cuba, the remains were returned to Seville in 1898. However in 1877 workmen in the cathedral of Santo Domingo made a surprising discovery. They unearthed an urn containing bones and displaying an inscription: "The illustrious and distinguished male, Don Christopher Columbus."

The Dominicans triumphantly concluded that the Spaniards had taken the wrong bones to Havana, and erected a cross-shaped monumental tomb for Columbus.

A group of Spanish historians and forensic experts, led by Seville school teacher Marcial Castro, now wants to settle the century-old dispute between Seville and Santo Domingo.

The Andalusian regional government backs their plan of comparing DNA from both sets of bones to that extracted from the remains of Columbus' brother Diego and son Hernando, both interred in Seville.

Comparisons with DNA from the Viana family could determine whether Columbus really came from Majorca instead of Genoa.

Yet even if the Dominican and Spanish Catholic authorities allow researchers to disturb the tombs, success is anything but assured.

DNA evidence degrades with time, and Columbus' genetic blueprint risks being in poor shape after five centuries.

Other problems could also crop up, including uncertainty about the identity of Diego's presumed remains.

Some experts even believe that the successive transfers have left the remains of Christopher Columbus divided between Seville and Santo Domingo.

In the final analysis, the great mariner could be buried in four places, as it is thought possible that some of his bones were sent to Genoa and to the Vatican.