MADRID — Remains found in a tomb in northwestern Spain are likely to belong to a ninth-century bishop believed to have helped create the Camino de Santiago, one of Christianity's most popular pilgrimages, a new study has found.

A combination of bone analysis, carbon dating, stable isotope analysis and DNA testing yielded data that "supports the possibility" that the human bones found in 1955 are those of Bishop Thedomir, according to a paper published on Tuesday in the "Antiquity" journal.

Oral tradition, later written down, has it that Theodomir discovered the tomb of St James the Apostle between 820 and 830 AD following a divine revelation in what is now Santiago de Compostela, the capital of the Galicia region.

News of the discovery reached King Alfonso II of the neighbouring region of Asturias, who marched with his court from Oviedo to Santiago.

The 146 km royal pilgrimage established what is today known as the "Primitive Way", the oldest path used by pilgrims of the Camino, or Way of St James.

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