Experts searching for the remains of Miguel de Cervantes have found a casket bearing the initials "M.C." with bones inside it in a crypt underneath a cloistered convent in Madrid.

Archeologists say they made the find over the weekend during excavations to solve the centuries-old mystery of where the Spanish writer was laid to rest.

The experts said bones of at least nine other bodies were also found in the space containing the coffin.

The initials on a plank of the coffin were formed with metal tacks.

Cervantes is a towering figure in Spanish culture. His novel "The Adventures of the Ingenious Nobleman Don Quixote of La Mancha" changed Spanish literature.

His wife, Catalina Salazar, was buried at the convent, although the location of her grave also remains a mystery.