From what I recall learning about the subject (and not from Hancock), it was a transitionary type of period. So no, not tumult but a period of change/transition. No apocalyptic overtones were intended. The tumult is more a reflection on what is going on today, perhaps subconsciously motivated by the hype of a fabrication. Sorry if I blurred it there. Didn't intend it quite that way and probably erred trying to explain what I'm seeing as a social dynamic.

In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil.--Ralph Waldo Emerson