Palimpsest
[PAL-imp-sest]

Definition
While palimpsest often refers to a writing material on which the original script has been erased (though not completely) and written over again, in geography, the word means a place or landscape in which something new is superimposed over traces of something preceding it.

Origin
Latin, Greek; 1655-65
From palímps?stos, meaning ‘again rubbed smooth’

Example
In west Cornwall, England, the weathered granite bedrock gives the area its classic rough-hewn look. It also birthed a booming tin mining business. This interplay between human activity and the physical terrain manifests a palimpsest landscape that evokes layers of cultural identity and geological history.