ALMOST EXACTLY 400 years after he died, and following a massive search, the body of Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes has been found.
Cervantes, who wrote Don Quixote, died in poverty on 22 April 1616, despite creating one of the landmarks of Western literature.
Forensic anthropologists who had been looking for his remains for one year say that they believe they have found the body of the literary giant in an alcove in a crypt in a Madrid convent.
The researchers used infrared cameras, 3D scanners and ground-penetrating radar to examine 33 alcoves at Madrid’s Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians, where Cervantes was rumoured to have died.
The team have carried out preliminary documentary research but have not yet completed genetic testing of the remains.
Forensic anthropologist Francisco Etxebarria said they had identified “some fragments” of the author, who died one week after William Shakespeare.
Born near Madrid in 1547, Cervantes has been dubbed the father of the modern novel for The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, which was published in two parts in 1605 and 1615.
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