where he reconstructed the naos using modern bricks to replace areas of fallen stonework, extended the height of some collapsed columns, and elsewhere rearranged surviving fragments to emphasise the best preserved. During the reconstruction, one of the south porch's Caryatids, which had fallen during the fighting of the War of Independence, was found and returned to its plinth. Pittakis also excavated the building, down to the floor level of its phase as a Christian church, uncovering tombs in the southern part and a cistern in the western area. From 1841, he began to collaborate with Rangavis (now secretary of the Archaeological Society) on the restoration of the Parthenon, having previously excavated its pronaos in the late 1830s. Between 1841 and 1844, they rebuilt parts of the naos and restored part of the north and south colonnades. As he had in the Erechtheion, Pittakis reinforced part of the Parthenon's north side with a large brick wall. He ordered casts from the British Museum to replace the Parthenon sculptures taken by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, placing them directly onto the Parthenon itself. Pittakis intended to rebuilt the entire north colonnade, but was prevented from doing so by lack of funds. On behalf of the Archaeological Society, he excavated at Mycenae in 1841, clearing the approach to the Lion Gate and making a tentative exploration of the Tomb of Clytemnestra. In 1842, Pittakis was placed in charge of all excavation on the Acropolis. Ephor General of Antiquities (1843-1863) Pittakis had a long-running feud with Ludwig Ross, Greece's Ephor General of Antiquities from 1834, which reflected wider tensions between native Greek archaeologists and the mostly-Bavarian scholars who, on the invitation of King Otto, dominated Greek archaeology in the first years of the independent state. In 1834 and 1835, excavations in the Piraeus uncovered a series of inscriptions known as the 'Naval Records', which gave information on the administration and financing of the Athenian navy between the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. Ross studied the inscriptions and sent sketches to August Boeckh for the Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, despite having not yet received approval to publish them. The Greek authorities asserted that Ross' actions were illegal: Pittakis attacked Ross in the press, forcing Ross' resignation as Ephor General in 1836. Nikolaos Papazarkadas has argued that Pittakis' opposition to Ross' actions was personal rather than principled, pointing out that Pittakis made no protest against