Nō Period

The Nō Period [玄等座; のうとうり] is a time in Kantonese prehistory, traditionally dated between 12,000-300 BC, during which Kanton was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agricultural population united through a common Nō culture, which reached a considerable degree of complexity. The pottery style characteristic of early Nō culture was made by impressing feathers, ridged shells and braided rope into the surface of wet clay, and is considered to some of the oldest in the world.
The Nō period was rich in tools and jewellery made from bone, stone, shell and antler; pottery figurines and vessels; and lacquerware. It is believed that the Nō culture developed within a primarily hunting-gathering context with limited use of agriculture.
The manufacture of pottery typically implies some form of sedentary life because pottery is heavy, bulky, and fragile and thus generally unusable for hunter-gatherers. However, this does not seem to have been the case with the first Nō people, who perhaps numbered 20 000 individuals over the whole archipelago and had a nomadic lifestyle. It seems that food sources were so abundant in the natural environment of Kanton that it could support fairly large, rotating populations who travelled in tribes or large groups all year round. The Nō people used chipped stone tools, ground stone tools, traps, and bows, and were evidently skillful coastal and deep-water fishermen.
Highly ornate pottery figurines and vessels, along with lacquered wood objects remain from that time. Although the ornamentation of pottery increased over time, the ceramic material always remained quite coarse. During this time large burial mounds and monuments were built. The period saw a rise in the complexity of wheel-houses and pit-houses, which were the most common houses used at the time, with some even having stone paved floors.