Cervantes appeared half – ElEspectador.com

Numerous media announced yesterday that the skeletal remains of the writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, a forensic team searched for a year in the convent of Trinitarian (Madrid), had been found . The mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella, said the discovery was a great historical contribution. However, it would have to make several clarifications, especially one. There is no such discovery and the remains were not found

According to Francisco Etxeberria, forensic leading the search, investigators found a grave in the convent crypt remains of 17 people. According to the records of the convent, Cervantes was taken sometime in the crypt. The forensic team is confident that there among these remains, is Cervantes, but no definitive proof of its existence, because the bones are in poor condition and a DNA test, almost 400 years after the writer’s death, would be practically useless. On this occasion, scientists and Spanish society (which through the City has invested 124,000 euros in this work) must be supported by issuing a list notes that the remains of Cervantes are there. It is almost a matter of faith

In principle, the researchers relied on certain features of the life of Cervantes would be visible on his body. The writer had received a blow in one hand and two shots musket in the chest during the Battle of Lepanto (1571). This would leave a mark, they thought. However, bones are “very fragmented” and that produces a despair in two ways: they can not identify any feature in them and it is possible that there can not extract any genetic material. If you could get, there is only one person you possible make a genetic comparison: a sister of Cervantes, who also is in a similar Cervantes ossuary. To find your bones equal work that they have done with the writer of The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote and jobs Persilesy Sigimunda would be required. Cervantes did not leave offspring (not legitimate, at least) and their DNA could be comparable with that of the descendants of his brother Rodrigo. Four hundred years later, it is quite likely that there are genetic matches, explained a few months ago researchers.

“We have not been able to resolve with certainty, why are cautious. We are convinced that we have something “Etxebarria said. That something is certain that among the remains of those 17 people (interred between 1612 and 1630, corresponding to five children, ten adults and two unidentified) may be Cervantes. Still, none of the researchers could stand up and say: “This is a bone of Cervantes”. The scientific evidence in this case, surrenders to the historical evidence. Lead and studs seeking for months, the Trinitarians blanket covering the body of Cervantes, certain “aquiline face, chestnut hair, smooth forehead and unembarrassed” as Cervantes described in the prologue of novels copies, not determined . its existence between bone inventory subsurface

The expectation of this meeting, then, is reduced: the researchers could not confirm the identity of Cervantes. It was a risk I had in mind from the beginning. Although in the past year GPR scans performed and reviewed every inch the crypt of the convent, were almost at the same point a year ago: with a check, on paper, the existence of the skeletal remains of the writer. Forensic not announced the opening of a third phase of exploration, to review in detail the skeletal remains. It is possible, in fact, that Cervantes never appear.