There are of course other possible factors which enter into residential decisions than considerations proximity to a prominent and generous personage. Among these are access to certain ritual of religious services considered essential to health and prosperity. Atkinson provides a protracted discussion of shamanism and leadership among the Wana of inland Sulawesi ([Atkinson 1989]). In her account, popular or renowned shamans constitute settlement determinants in their own right.
The immediate neighbors of a prominent shaman stand to benefit most from his skills. Their advantage is not only logistic but also political. Established shamans use their reputations to attract people to their settlement, for only those who live nearby have primary claim on a shaman's services. ... [A] powerful shaman can serve as an enticement and a justification for residence choice... [[Atkinson 1989]: 271]It should be noted here that Wana shamans perform no redistributive function whatsoever. The various services provided by Wana ritual specialists, all of which are apparently significant consideration in residential choice, include farming magic, legal knowledge and counsel, and shamanic prowess, concerned primarily with health and healing. Successful shamans, says Atkinson, ``can combat the centrifugal tendencies of Wana communities by encouraging the dependence of others on their skills'' ([Atkinson 1989]: 269).
Thus, if the ritual efficacy of a particular community were to be considered superior to that of its neighbors, this efficacy could itself have the sort of effect of residential choice that we are discussing. That is it could, over a long time span, produce unequal rates of population growth in different settlements due to systematic bias in residential decisions. Individual shamans, of course, are unlikely to have such an effect over a long period of time, since their career is limited by their lifespan. However, special efficacy could also come to be attached to totemic figures, idols, monoliths, or ancestral mummies, all of which would be included in the Andean concept of huaca. The efficacy of these entities is of course not limited by the human lifespan.
There are many other possible explanations for differing rates of population growth, of course. However, the ones I have outlined above, and especially the concept of redistribution, are of particular interest. I will use them on several occasions in the course of my analysis. That is why I have discussed them at such length here.