Sentence:  We shall not be able entirely to pass over these connections to the East as we consider Ripe Geometric pottery , the epic and the myth , and the religious <WSD>evolution</WSD> of early Greece ; the important point , however , is that these magnificent achievements , unlike those of later decades , were only incidentally influenced by Oriental models . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a process in which something passes by degrees to a different stage (especially a more advanced or mature stage)