In the 1930s and 1940s, Chinese archaeologists exploring caves in the Bayan Kara-Ula range reported discovering over 700 stone discs etched with spiral grooves, now known as the Dropa Stones. Some claimed the grooves contained tiny hieroglyph-like markings telling of the Dropa people, star beings who crash-landed in the mountains thousands of years ago. In 1962, a Soviet researcher allegedly translated the inscriptions, describing a spacecraft that broke apart and stranded its crew on Earth. While many academics dismiss the tale as a hoax or folklore, rumors persist of discs locked away in Beijing museums.