No, vetuste (interesting moniker, that). Gould sought to reconcile the fact of 'stasis' found in nearly all fossil evaluations which contradicts the graduated evolutionary paradigm taught by the more accepted Darwinian school.
Moreover, Gould, et al, stated that a conventional evolutionary model would never be repeated. The confluence of supposed events used to construct such a model would, necessarily, be only retrodiction, which can be a major problem in our current discussion re: Red Deer People.
Gould was, very obviously, an evolutionist, but was troubled by the sudden appearance of full blown fossil examples in the strata with no predecessors, lasting for (in many cases) millenia and becoming exctinct with no evidence of change throughout its existence. He sought to rationalize this fact by proposing "Punctuated equilibria" (as previously stated). He had many critics, but many anthropologists support his views still.
The problem is made more complicated by a distortion of creationism by the 'Young Earth Creationists', who insist the Earth is only several thousands of years old and who provide easy fodder for evolutionists, when, in fact, there are alternative views that not only accomodate the obvious age of the Earth, but, when calmly discussed, provide an alternate, perhaps equally viable Gedankenexperiment...