Has there always been romantic love? That is, What is the
anthropological history of romantic love? Or maybe this is clearer: is
this an invented concept or is there a biological predisposition for
this feeling? Is there a recorded culture that does not have this
concept in its stories/myths? I am familiar with brain research that
shows evidence for anger, anxiety (or maybe more elementary, fear),
and maternal/paternal protection urges (which are a type of love?),
but I don't know anything about this other kind of love.

Whole libraries could be filled with books on this topic. Here's an
article about recent research in the field.

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2424049
The science of love -- I get a kick out of you
Feb 12th 2004 

Scientists are finding that, after all, love really is down to a
chemical addiction between people

OVER the course of history it has been artists, poets and playwrights
who have made the greatest progress in humanity's understanding of
love. Romance has seemed as inexplicable as the beauty of a rainbow.
But these days scientists are challenging that notion, and they have
rather a lot to say about how and why people love each other.

And ancient literature and mythology is full of romantic love stories, even if
"Scientists are finding that, after all, love really is down to a
chemical addiction between people."

Bible, Genesis, for example:
Leah was Laban's oldest daughter. She became Jacob's first wife and
the mother of six of his sons. Jacob, however, was in love with Leah's
younger sister, Rachel. Jacob had agreed to work for Laban for seven
years to get permission to take Rachel as his bride. However, Laban
tricked him into marrying Leah. Jacob kept Leah as his wife but worked
another seven years for Laban so that he could also marry Rachel.

Or in Hindu mythology which not only has "Kama" for sensual love but
also "Prem" or "Prema" for elevated love in contrast to Kama, which
you can find quite far down on this site, after scrolling past a lot
more on  the subject:

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/L/Lo/Love.htm

The literature and myths may not have been based on facts, but they
reflect and confirm that the readers and listeners to the originally
oral stories knew and understood the feeling, regardless if it's
occurrance was embelished with stories about Eros shooting his arrows
or the magic love potion in Tristan and Isolde.

"Is there a recorded culture that does not have this concept in its stories/myths?"
I doubt it, but it would be kind of hard to prove  - and the society
would have probably died out before it developed many myths without
romantic love.  ;-)

czh-ga:
Thanks for your great comment; I went to the article and ended up
getting the book mentioned by The Economist, called Why We Love, by
Helen Fisher. It's pretty good, and I have actually been more tuned-in
to recent studies in the news like the ones conducted in her book.

And myoarin-ga: also a good comment, covering a reasonable expanse.

I think I continue to have the question, Is romantic love invented?
That is, does it actually exist concretely or is the name "romance" or
"love" an abstract concept that has no real physiological root? It
seems abiguous, even after reading Fisher's book, if the thing that
Shakespeare and Browning and Springsteen talk about is the same as the
actual physical experience of "love feeling" that can be measured to
some degree.

I know it sounds silly, but sometimes it seems like the thing itself
doesn't exist, but that we are just reflecting what we have made up in
art.

Like Nick Hornby wrote for his narrator in the oft quoted High Fidelity:
"Do I listen to pop music because I am miserable? Or am I miserable
because I listen to pop music?"

Probably not a question for Google Answers anymore, but any more good
sources will be great.

It's a great question, Macromicromini.  Glad that Czh-ga found such a
useful book for you, and a lot of us love to kick around a subject,
hoping we can add something to it.

I remember the first time I feel in love  (who doesn't!) before I had
read anything about it or knew much more than popular songs in the
fifties said.
Later reading just showed that the writers described romantic love
pretty darn well, and have for millenia, from the Song of Solomon in
the Old Testament (just as as a handily available reference) to myths
and midieval love songs (Minnelieder) and all sorts of poetry and
fiction  - before anyone questioned that romantic love
existed/occurred.  Indeed, earlier much of the literature was about
mutual romantic love in the face of almost unsurmountable obstacles.
Sure, there is a biological predisposition, the urge to reproduce, but
person's fall in love before they may recognize that (though these
days, youth have been exposed to so much that they may be more
interested in that without waiting to be "struck" by love).
Science can try to fathom it, and art describe it, but it happens
without knowing anything about those sources.  :-)

Myoarin

Matters of the heart come very natural... it's thinking with one's
head that requires effort!  Unfortunately, I don't think they can
operate at the same time...