In Grytviken on South Georgia, an island about 1,000 miles east of South America, gigantic whale bones and abandoned tanker ships tell the story of civilization of whalers

Little says more about how civilizations once lived than a glimpse into the surviving ruins of the places that they inhabited.
In Grytviken on South Georgia Island, gigantic whale bones and abandoned tanker ships tell the story of a civilization of whalers.
A group of white stucco houses reveals that the whalers had lived in a green valley below the snow-capped mountains on the isolated island located about 1,000 miles east of South America.

History: In Grytviken on South Georgia, an island about 1,000 miles east of South America, gigantic whale bones and abandoned tanker ships tell the story of civilization of whalers

Fishermen lived right on the water in a green valley between snow-capped mountains on the isolated island until the 1960s, when the whaling station was closed due to low whale stocks

Now all that remains is a ghost town, left to tell the story of its past for decades to come

History says they lived there until the 1960s, when the whaling station was closed due to low whale stocks.
Now all that remains is a ghost town, left to tell the story of its past for decades to come.

Ghost towns exist all across the world, as civilizations have been wiped out by natural disasters or expanded to no longer fit the confines of their former homes.
The South American town of Chaiten in Chile was nearly wiped out by a volcano that erupted in 2008, and then the flooding of the Blanco River finished it off.

The South American town of Chaiten in Chile was nearly wiped out by a volcano that erupted in 2008, and then the flooding of the Blanco River finished it off

Toppled homes and tangled telephone wires remain as some of the few signs that people once lived there.

Still standing in the deserted desert town of Berlin, Nevada are the skeletal remains of an early 20th-century car

Romagnano al Monte, Italy

Toppled homes and tangled telephone wires remain as some of the few signs that people once lived there.
Some disasters were man-made, such as the tragedy of Oradour-sur-Glane, France. The French village was destroyed when more than 600 of its residents were massacred in 1944 by a German Waffen-SS company.
In the U.S.,  many towns in the American West saw civilizations come and go during the gold rush, such as Berlin, Nevada.
Still standing in the deserted desert town are the skeletal remains of a early 20th-century car and a wood cabin.

Oradour-sur-Glane, France: The original village was destroyed on 10 June 1944, when 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company

Oradour-sur-Glane, France: The city is only a shadow of what it once was

Chinguetti, Mauritania: For centuries the city was a principal gathering place for pilgrims of the Maghrib to gather on the way to Mecca

Kayaköy, Fethiye District, Turkey: This city was devastated by an earthquake in 1856 and a major fire in 1885

Bodie, California: This was a booming mining town, achieving notoriety in the 1870s due to its particularly profitable gold ore trade

Bodie, California: In a classic representation of the Wild West, countless saloons lined the streets

Bodie, California: Bar-room brawls, hold-ups and shoot-outs were regular occurrences

Calico, California: Calico is an abandoned mining town located in the largely arid and mountainous Mojave Desert

Calico, California: With over 500 mines, the town's silver production was lucrative until the mid 1890s, when the Silver Purchase Act drove down the price of silver, ruining the local economy