San Tash Burial Mound Site

San Tash is 4 meters tall and has a diameter of 56 meters.  According to legend, San Tash was birthed during the time of Tamerlane’s military campaigns. Tamerlane wanted to know the number of his troops and commanded each of his men to throw a stone into the pile so he could gage the size of his army. Hence, the name San Tash, or “the counting stones,” was given to the pile.

However, it’s rumored that there may be more to the legend than just that.  It’s said that Tamerlane was first entreated upon to count his men by an elderly man he met on his way.  The elderly gentleman wanted to impart wisdom to Tamerlane by giving Tamerlane a visual lesson on the price of war.   When his army came back from war, the old man asked him to have his men pick up a stone from the pile when they returned.  The stones that were left showed Tamerlane all the men that died during his exploits.

Archeologists estimate a total of more than 3,500 cubic meters of stone resides on this site.