How did head nodding/shaking become accepted ways to express yes and no in the West? Did there used to be other, comparable gestures that died out?

by Lynx_Rufus
jeffbell

There was a brief previous discussion of this a couple years back where we learned from /u/technotaoist about how even today the nodding/shaking has a different meaning in Albania, Greece, Macedonia and Bulgaria. I don't know if you would consider them to be "West".

Of course there is always room for a more complete answer.