Palimpsest

/pˈælɪmpsəst/

/ˈpæɫɪˌsɛst/

Palimpsest

a manuscript that was written on, erased, and written on again and again, while the previous text was still partially visible

*** something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form.

Examples

1. Palimpsests range from 50 to 400 km in diameter.

2. And you'll have heard in section-- and in the Beinecke tour, a palimpsest is a manuscript that has been scraped of its old text, a new text put on.

3. The truth is that this world of adaptation has made him into a palimpsest.

4. Some pages are overwritten, creating difficult-to-decipher palimpsests of long-gone landscapes.