أَوَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرُوا۟ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَٰقِبَةُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَانُوا۟ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ كَانُوا۟ هُمْ أَشَدَّ مِنْهُمْ قُوَّةً وَءَاثَارًا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ
"Have they not travelled the earth and seen how those before them ended? They were mightier than these in strength and left more traces on the earth."
ءَاثَارًا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ — "traces on the earth". Root أ-ث-ر: a trace, a mark left behind. It was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/4 (athārati min ʿilm — a remnant of knowledge); I rely on that treatment.
The two uses can be compared: there what was asked for was a trace of knowledge, here what is named is a trace in stone. And the verse says that those who left traces in stone were destroyed too.
فَأَخَذَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ بِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَمَا كَانَ لَهُم مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ مِن وَاقٍ — wāq: one who protects, one who stands as a shield. Root و-ق-ي — the same root as taqwā. The absence of a protector is stated with the very word for protection.