The Quran

وَكَم أَهلَكنا قَبلَهُم مِن قَرنٍ هُم أَشَدُّ مِنهُم بَطشًا فَنَقَّبوا فِي البِلادِ هَل مِن مَحيصٍ

Muhammad Asad

AND HOW MANY a generation have We destroyed before those [who now deny the truth]¹ - people of greater might than theirs -: but [when Our chastisement befell them,] they became wanderers on the face of the earth, seeking no more than a place of refuge.²

This connects with verses 12-14 above. It should be borne in mind that in ancient Arabic usage the term qarn - here rendered as "generation" - often denotes "a period of time succeeding another": hence, a "century", or "people of one and the same period" and, finally, a "civilization" in the historical sense of this word, That this last significance is intended here becomes evident from the sequence.
Lit., "they wandered searching (naqqabu) in the lands: Is there any place of refuge?" - implying that after the destruction of their civilization they could do no more than strive for bare survival.