In 2022, the southern sector of insula I 16 was excavated as part of the project Modi d’abitare a Pompei in età sannitica. The data provided by the four trenches opened in structures 5 and 7 provided the first indications of the construction history of the buildings which, from the first half of the 3rd century B.C., grew up within this area. The evidence suggests that, in this period, a small house (n. 6) with a testudinate (closed) atrium was built on the south side of the insula, using opus africanum and separated by an empty lot from a second building (n. 7). The latter was just to the north and also built in opus africanum_.

Between the late 3rd and early 2nd century B.C., a third building (n. 5), was built to the west of domus 6. This was a second house with testudinate atrium, which was substantially extended about a century later, through the annexation of rooms originally belonging to domus 6, via the creation of a link with building 7 and the occupation of the empty lot, which previously separated buildings 6 and 7.

A significant moment in the building history of the southern sector of insula I 16 came in the period following the earthquake of 62/63 A.D., when work was undertaken to repair the damage it had caused. The excavation revealed various phases of the reconstruction, in particular showing how the building activities and removal of rubble took place alongside each other. Lastly, in house 5 evidence for several propitiatory rites was uncovered, in one case relating to building activity, in another, to the daily manifestations of religiosity by the inhabitants of the house.