Photo: Buena Vista Pictures
Look away, kids, look away.
The inspiration for Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, is in the news as archeologists in Turkey believe they have found his tombstone. The head of Antalya’s Monument Authority, Cemil Karabayram, recently told Daily Sabah that his team has searched through historical records relating to the St. Nicholas Church in Demre and now believe that the story about what happened to the remains of Saint Nicholas could be wrong.
Some Turkish Archeologists Think They Found The Grave Of Santa Claus
Working with researchers from eight different fields of study, Karabayram says that an elaborate tomb was discovered beneath the St. Nicholas Church in Turkey after performing digital surveys. Karabayram believes that the men who removed Saint Nicholas’ bones mistakenly picked up the remains of a different priest, making it possible that the real St. Nick is still underground. It will be some time before the researchers can get any closer to confirming the theory.
“We believe this shrine has not been damaged at all, but it is quite difficult to get to it as there are mosaics on the floor,” Karabayram told the Daily Sabah. The tiles will carefully be removed together in a mould for preservation.
Photo: Wikipedia/What was believed to be the desecrated sarcophagus of St. Nicholas
So after one Italian merchant stole the bones of what he believed was Saint Nicolas, bones that have been stored at the Basilica of Saint Nicholas since — and bones that are believed to have miraculous powers, it now seems that those bones may not even belong to good old Saint Nick.
Karabayram and his team will get to work to try and reach the tombstone that was discovered, as they are currently searching for researchers from eight different fields of study to carry out the rest of the work at the site.
