According to local legend, this large pile of thousands of rocks hearkens back to the Timurid era. As the story goes, en route to an invasion of China the conqueror instructed his soldiers to each place one stone from Issyk-Köl into the mound. Upon returning victorious from the battle, each soldier again removed one stone; and by this device Timur estimated his battle losses.
Though the truth of the legend is lost to time, the mound does make an interesting diversion on the way to or from the Kazakh border, just off the highway about 20km from the border.
