The 2010 Dutch excavations on the Messapian site of Muro Tenente concentrated on two objectives:

1. continuation of the excavation of the inner curtain wall, begun the previous year, the aim being to further clarify the diverse construction phases of the defensive structure, in particular those denominated in 2009 phases 2 and 3. The latest phase (3) of the curtain wall, probably post-dating the 3rd century B.C., was identified in the eastern part of the trench. Here, a course of large, irregular calcarenite blocks was preserved. The blocks had been very slightly squared on the side facing towards the lower part of the town. The latest wall was built on top of the earlier one, on a very slightly different alignment. In phase 2, between the end of the 4th-beginning of the 3rd century B.C. the curtain wall had a well-defined form. In the eastern part of the trench a section of wall on a north-east/south-west alignment came to light, which corresponded perfectly with that investigated in the 1990s. In the western part of the trench another section of wall was exposed, slightly collapsed and on a north-south alignment. The two curtain walls were linked by a very carefully- built rectangular structure, in calcarenite stones, probably a rectangular tower. A layer of collapse comprising stones mixed with numerous tiles was removed from the central part of the trench relating to the second construction phase of the walls, close to the rectangular tower. The finds comprised cooking ware pottery and a loom weight, indicating this as a residential zone and do not seem to relate to a defensive structure. The accumulation of stones may be explained as an intentional dump of materials to level the terrain prior to the building of the latest structure (30.018), or a short period of abandonment and a slight slippage of materials from the central area of the settlement (which must have been only a few metres away) on a higher level than the base of the fortifications.

2. checking of the continuation of the inner curtain wall by opening a new trench (n. 42), positioned at about 100 m west of trench 30. Here, a monumental rectangular structure (5.05 × 2.95 m) was uncovered, orientated in a north-south direction and built of large, rectangular calcarenite blocks. Only the foundations were preserved, two courses deep (except for the north-eastern part where only one course survived). The surface of the blocks showed plough damage, the grooves running north-west/south-east and north north-east/south south-west. The north-eastern part had been removed by recent interventions. The blocks were of various sizes and some, at the north corners, jutted out from the rest of the building. All were very precisely squared and accurately positioned one next to the other without mortar.
The construction technique, dimensions and materials used are very new elements with respect to the archaeological structures investigated at Muro Tenente to date. Moreover, these characteristics seem to exclude that this building had a domestic function or was part of a productive structure. It may be suggested that this was a monumental structure of substantial size (at least in comparison to other structures on the site). Finds of such objects as a fragment of column capital, but also of two bronze vessel handles seems to support the idea that this was a building of some importance.

Archaeological and art-historical comparisons suggest that it was a naiskos, a small temple with aedicule on a podium. This is a building associated with funerary ritual and private cult, which spread in southern Italy from the end of the 4th century onwards.