From the ArcaMax Publishing, Vocabulary Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/vocabulary/s-355794-950085
palimpsest \PAL-imp-sest\ (noun) - 1 : A manuscript, usually of
papyrus or parchment, on which more than one text has been written
with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible. 2 : An
object or place whose older layers or aspects are apparent beneath its
surface.
"A palimpsest obscures what lies beneath. To build Pakistan it was
necessary to cover up Indian history, to deny that Indian centuries
lay just beneath..." -- Salman Rushdie, 'Shame, a novel'
Palimpsest is from Latin palimpsestus, from Greek palimpsestos,
"scraped or rubbed again," from palin, "again" + psen, "to rub
(away)."