THE IRISH TIMES. Fri May 22nd 2020
We are close’ – says City of Valladolid official as search resumes for tragic Irish hero
Archaeologists in Spain have found part of a skull and a femur (thigh bone) in their search for the remains of Red Hugh O’Donnell, one of the great tragic heroes of Irish history.
O’Donnell died en-route to Valladolid, a city in northwestern Spain, in July 1602 having failed to persuade the Spanish king Philip III to send another army to Ireland to fight against the English.
On day five of the dig in Valladolid’s Constitution Street on Friday, the archaeologists recovered human remains.
A tweet from the city’s tourism and culture department read: “A part of the skull, a femur, and some more remains appear in what appears to be the access to the Chapel of the Marvels.”
The city’s culture councillor Ana Redondo posted a shamrock emoji and the words “estamos cerca” – “we are close”.
The archaeologists involved are also searching for the remains of Christopher Columbus, who in 1492 became the first European to discover the Americas.
He was buried in the same place as O’Donnell. However, Columbus’s remains were allegedly removed and reburied in the cathedral of Seville and later in the Dominican Republic.
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