Ancient Civilization

The Civilisation in the ruins were beings that destroyed themselves by overuse of nightmare fuel, causing the periods of flux which probably killed the people and tore down the buildings.

It was probably this civilisation that produced the clockwork machines and how Maxwell used them, repairing them from the wreckage. It seems that they were also religious as the pseduo-science station is refered to by Maxwell as a place they may have worshipped at.