Turkish archaeologists found a burial site beneath the ruins of an ancient church, and they believe the remains are of St Nicholas.
The site of the relatively intact 1600-year old tomb was found beneath St Nicholas Church in the Antalya province in southern Turkey.
The church in the Demre district of the province which is widely believed to be the birthplace of the original Santa Claus.
Archaeologists discovered the secretive tomb during electronic surveys which appeared to show a gap beneath the church and the base.
The head of Antalya’s Monument Authority, Cemil Karabayram, told Turkish media outlet Hurriyet Daily News: “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.”
Archaeologists will now be tasked with removing each individual tile to loosen the tomb.
St Nicholas was a bishop from the fourth century who lived in Myra, Asia Minor – now known as Turkey.
He was born to a rich family, but his parents died when he was young and he inherited their money.
The bishop was a generous person and gave most of the money to the poor and gave secret gifts to those in need – providing the basis for the myth of Santa Claus.
St Nicholas is also the Saint of Children.
It was not until the 16th century that St Nicholas became known as Santa Claus.
During the Protestant reformation in Northern Europe, someone was tasked with delivering gifts to children at Christmas time – who was dubbed ‘Father Christmas’ or ‘Old Man Christmas’, borrowed from old stories from the Middle Ages.
The trend of giving gifts to children at Christmas spread throughout Europe, and in Germany, Father Christmas became known as ‘Christkind’.
When this trend reached the US, ‘Christkind’ became known as ‘Kris Kringle’.
But when Dutch settlers arrived in the US, they brought stories of St Nicholas with them and Kris Kringle and St Nicholas were merged to become ‘Sinterklass’ – or Santa Claus.