Archaeologists claim they discovered Santa Claus' 'original burial site' in major breakthrough

Archaeologists have had an early Christmas breakthrough as they claim to have discovered the first resting place of the one and only Santa Claus.

The good news is, this is potentially a great discovery for archaeology, the bad news is that it does seemingly confirm that while Santa is real, he's also, to quote A Christmas Carol, 'dead as a doornail'. Sorry, kids.

To be clear, this isn't the red and white draped figure we're familiar with, though if it was, he'd look more like Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas by now, it's the saint who would go on to become known as that jolly, bearded deliverer of presents, Saint Nicholas.

Saint Nicholas was an early Christian bishop who lived in the third and fourth centuries AD in what was at the time the Roman Empire.

No, not this guy (Jose Luis Pelaez/Getty)

Now, archaeologists think that they've found the location of Saint Nicholas' initial resting place, and it's apparently in Turkey.

Associate Professor Ebru Fatma Findik from Hatay Mustafa Kemal University is leading the project that discovered a sarcophagus in the two-storey annex of the St Nicholas Church, believed to be the saint's final resting place.

“Our biggest hope is to find an inscription on the sarcophagus,” said Dr. Findik to Turkiye Today. “This would help clarify the burial contents and allow us to determine the exact period it dates from.”

While this is undoubtedly a big find, study is now needed on the sarcophagus itself to see if that can provide any clues about the identity of who it was made for.

“The fact that we have found a sarcophagus near the church, thought to house his tomb, may indicate that this is indeed the sacred area we have been searching for,” Dr. Findik said.

A coffin that housed Saint Nicholas' bones was damaged by sailors (Ayse Topbas/Getty)

Currently, only the lid has been exposed, but the sides may hold further clues about the sarcophagus.

A few hundred years after his death, the Church of Saint Nicholas was built over the site of the church where he had been a bishop, and his remains were moved to a new sarcophagus in that church which can still be seen.

Some 700 years after his death, his bones were taken to the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari in Southern Italy, and then it's believed that some of the remains were taken to Venice during the First Crusade.

It's not just Christmas that Nicholas is connected with; he's also the patron saint of brewers, single people, sailors, merchants, repentant thieves, archers, and, fittingly, toymakers.

To be fair, combining those things sounds like the average office Christmas party - yes, including the archers.

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