Forensic experts involved in a nine-month search in the Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians in Madrid for the remains of Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes may have just hit pay dirt; they believe they have finally come across the coffin belonging to the author of "Don Quixote."

According to The Independent, the forensic experts have reported they discovered two sets of tacks forming the thumb-sized initials “MC” on a coffin in the crypt believed to contain the earthly remains of the legendary writer. Apparently, the bones within the coffin are mixed up with bones of other bodies. Tests are currently being done to see if they indeed are those of the famed poet, novelist, and playwright.

The whereabouts of Cervantes’ remains has been a mystery for hundreds of years, and it is one of the great ironies that this world-renowned wit could just get lost in the shuffle. But Cervantes is all about irony. Not only is he considered Spain’s best-known writer, but he is somehow both the inventor of the modern European novel and the progenitor of the self-reflexive post-modern novel.

Cervantes died a penniless author on the exact same day as Shakespeare on 23 April, 1616, He was buried in a nunnery in Madrid’s historic Barrio de las Letras quarter. In 1673, after the chapel was reconstructed, the exact location of Cercantes' final resting place was lost.

Locating the initials on the coffin might have been the hardest part of the search. Cervantes will be easy to identify. He was around 70 at death the time of death and had a deformed left hand and sagging shoulder blades due to arthritis. He had only six teeth when he died and major chest bruising because of injuries he got from his time in the naval Battle of Lepanto off western Greece in the year 1571. The man who wrote what would become “The Man From La Mancha” died with a lot of marks on him.

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