system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Pokemon] Did the Pokemon we know today evolve from prehistoric types? Was Pokemon science at one point more a kind of religious, spiritual thing?

I know several people practice seemingly religious or spiritualist varieties of Poke'science. I wonder though if there were any druidic cults or communities that helped to spur on early Pokemon studies? Were these the people who made early drawings of Mew or Unown, for example?
gpt
Yes, the Pokémon we know today have their origins in fossil Pokémon. There are exceptions, though (Godlike Pokémon, Arceus, Rayquaza and stuff.)

An example is Archen, according to his Pokédex entry, it is assumed to be the origin of all bird-like Pokémon.

Furthermore, lore says that there were cults surrounding certain Pokémon: Regice, Regirock and Registeel have been imprisoned in Hoenn region by those people.
Lately, those cults are rising: Team Plasma and Team Flare are some of those.

And at least their ideas are not completely wrong: Plasma wants to make Pokémon happy by releasing them. What they did not understand is that Pokémon are happier with a trainer than alone in the wilderness.