Spain announced in March 2015 that it had found Cervantes among bones of 15 to 17 people in a Madrid convent, with no DNA to confirm it

Miguel de Cervantes died in Madrid on 22 April 1616 and, as his will directed, was buried in the Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians, the order that had paid his ransom from captivity in 1580. His remains went missing when the convent was rebuilt in 1673. In 2014 the historian Fernando de Prado began a project to find them, and a forensic team led by the anthropologist Francisco Etxeberria searched the convent. In January 2015 the team reported caskets with bone fragments and wood marked with the letters M and C. On 17 March 2015 it announced that Cervantes was among the remains, citing injuries consistent with his wounds at Lepanto. The bones were fragmented and belonged to between 15 and 17 people. Etxeberria said there were no DNA comparisons possible, because no descendants of Cervantes are known. Reports at the time described the identification as probable, not definitive. A formal public reburial took place at the convent in June 2015. The announcement also named his wife among the remains found.