In the 17th-19th centuries, when Koprivshtitsa had nearly 12,000 inhabitants, animal husbandry and handicraft manufacturing were not a sufficient source of livelihood, and therefore going abroad to work was widely popular among men. A few kilometres from Koprivshtitsa, the road to Pazardzhik and Plovdiv, leading these migrant workers to Tsarigrad and the Middle East, before descending to Strelcha, passes through an area with stone moraines. There families sent away fathers and brothers on the long and risky journey. The separation was hard and many tears were shed there for years on end. Thus, the stone heaps got their bitterly ironic name – Sopolivite Kamani (en: Snotty stones).