Linking the likelihood of convergent evolution to the technologies’ complexity, this paper identifies the scales of technological diffusion and convergence, i.e., the evolving of structures that are similar, but not related to a common “ancestor.” Our study provides quantitative measures for understanding complexity and connectivity in technologies. The utility of our approach is exemplified through the case study of Cucuteni-Tripolye pottery kilns in Chalcolithic Southeastern Europe. The analysis shows that technological evolution has to be scaled to the “technologically important” (in quantitative terms) component parts, whose introduction shapes a ground for extinction and self-evolvement caused by the cascade effects along technological design structure. Similar technological solutions to the technological design structure engender the spread of similar devices in various locations. Surprisingly, such a broad distribution may be the result of relatively low internal diversity, rather than arising from higher efficiency. This gives some reasons for the underestimation of convergence as a mechanism for evolution of technology in current prehistoric archaeology.

本文将趋同进化的可能性与技术的复杂性联系起来，确定了技术扩散和趋同的规模，即相似但与共同“祖先”无关的结构的进化。我们的研究为理解技术的复杂性和连通性提供了定量措施。我们的方法的实用性通过东南欧铜器时代的 Cucuteni-Tripolye 陶窑的案例研究得到了例证。分析表明，技术进化必须扩展到“技术上重要的”（在数量上）组成部分，这些组成部分的引入为技术设计结构的级联效应造成的灭绝和自我进化奠定了基础。技术设计结构的相似技术解决方案导致相似设备在不同地点的传播。令人惊讶的是，如此广泛的分布可能是内部多样性相对较低的结果，而不是较高的效率所致。这为当前史前考古学中低估趋同作为技术进化机制提供了一些理由。