Spain’s hunt for author Cervantes’ remains enters key phase

MADRID (AP) — Experts searching for the remains of Miguel de Cervantes hope they are entering the final phase of their nine-month quest to solve the mystery of where the great Spanish writer was buried.

The author of “Don Quixote” was laid to rest in 1616 at the Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians in Madrid’s historic Barrio de las Letras, or Literary Quarter, but the exact whereabouts of his grave within the tiny convent chapel are unknown.

A team of archaeologists and anthropologists on Saturday are starting excavation work after identifying three unrecorded and unidentified graves in the chapel’s crypt. The bones there will be exhumed and analyzed.

Almudena Garcia Rubio, who leads the project, said if they don’t find Cervantes’ remains in those places, there are still other possible locations.