The temple which the archaeologists explored was used as a place of worship from the fifteenth century B.C. until Roman times. In the most sacred room of temple, clay fragments of fifteen statues were found. Each of these represented a goddess and had, at one time, been painted. The body of one statue was found among remains dating from the fifteenth century B.C. Its missing head happened to be among remains of the fifth century B.C. This head must have been found in Classical times and carefully preserved. It was very old and precious even then. When the archaeologists reconstructed the fragments, they were amazed to find that the goddess turned out to be a very modern-looking woman. She stood three feet high and her hands rested on her hips. She was wearing a full-length skirt which swept the ground. Despite her great age, she was very graceful indeed, but, so far, the archaeologists have been unable to discover her identity.

请教老师：

It was very old and precious even then - 这个even then 应该是指the fifth century 还是指考古队挖掘的时候呢？如果是指the fifth century, 从句意上下文来看，应该是指the fifth century, 如此，不是应该说成it must have been very old and precious even then 或 it had been very old and precious even then 吗？如果是指考古挖掘的时候，时态没问题，但是理解句意上有问题。

另外，这里用was wearing是表示栩栩如生的感觉吗？假设用wore可以吗？我知道以上2点新概念是正确的，但我理解上有疑惑，希望得到老师的分析，谢谢！