Dominique Sordoillet
email: dominique.sordoillet@univ-fcomte.fr

Olivier Weller

Earliest salt working in the world: from excavation to microscopy at the prehistoric sites of Tolici and Lunca (Romania)

Keywords: Neolithic, salt working, brine, hearth, micromorphology, SEM-EDS, Romania

Since the Early Neolithic, salt has played an important role in the social and economic development of populations. Consequently, the study and comprehension of salt management strategies have become a significant component of current archaeological research. This study is part of an interdisciplinary research program consisting of excavations and detailed analyses at two earliest salt working sites situated in the sub-Carpathian region of Romania, Lunca and Tolici (county Neamt).

These remarkably well-preserved sites are characterized by stratified deposits of several meters thick. Detailed stratigraphic descriptions were followed by optical microscopy analysis (soil micromorphology) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with geochemical analysis (EDS). The aim of these analyses was to identify specific sedimentary, petrographic and chemical characteristics that could be linked to salt working process. The results enable us to describe the main site formation process over time and to detect chemical components of edible salt (Na and Cl) in Early Neolithic ashes. These new data and consolidate previous interpretations of the operating procedures implemented from the Early Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Two techniques appear to have been preferentially adopted: pouring natural brine onto combustion structures during the Early Neolithic and evaporation in specific ceramic containers from the Chalcolithic onwards.

Introduction

Since the Early Neolithic, salt has played an important role in societies for the consumption and conservation of foodstuffs, livestock farming or for therapeutic purposes [START_REF] Weller | First salt making in Europe: an overview from Neolithic times[END_REF]. The control of deposits and production sites, the mastery of extraction techniques and the transport of salt over long distances all contributed to the social and economic development of populations. Consequently, the study and comprehension of salt management strategies have become a significant component of current archaeological research, as shown by recent studies and collective works in Europe (Alexianu et al. 2011;[START_REF] Biddulph | London Gateway. Iron Age and Roman salt making in the Thames Estuary; Excavations at Stanford Wharf Nature Reserve, Essex[END_REF]Nikolov, Bacvarov 2012;[START_REF] Harding | Salt in Prehistoric Europe[END_REF][START_REF] Tencariu | Briquetage and salt cakes: an experimental approach of a prehistoric technique[END_REF][START_REF] Weller | A pinch of salt in the Prehistoric Eastern Carpathians Mountains (Ro.)[END_REF] as well as in Asia [START_REF] Flad | Salt Production and Social Hierarchy in Ancient China: An Archaeological Investigation of Specialization in Chinas Three Gorges[END_REF][START_REF] Horiuchi | Detection of chloride from pottery as a marker for salt: a new analytical method validated using simulated salt-making pottery and applied to Japanese ceramics[END_REF][START_REF] Kawashima | Prehistoric salt production in Japan[END_REF], America [START_REF] Mckillop | Finds in Belize document Late Classic Maya salt making and canoe transport[END_REF][START_REF] Williams | The Salt of the Earth: Ethnoarchaeology of Salt Production in Michoacán, Western Mexico[END_REF][START_REF] Graham | The Marco Gonzalez Maya site, Ambergris Caye, Belize: Assessing the impact of human activities by examining diachronic processes at the local scale[END_REF] or Africa [START_REF] Alabi | Gberefu and Agorin sea beach: intensive salt-making site of the south-west coast of Nigeria[END_REF][START_REF] Antonites | The organization of salt production in early first millennium CE South Africa[END_REF]).

Since 2003, the Franco-Romanian research program "The prehistoric exploitation of salt springs in Moldova", aims to describe the different technical, socio-economic or ecological aspects of salt exploitation in this region in the north-east of Romania, from the early Neolithic until the end of the Chalcolithic (6000-3500BC). Several approaches contribute to this research: prospecting and recording salt springs and archaeological sites, spatial analyses of territorial dynamics, ethnographic investigations among riverine communities, archaeological excavations and paleo-environmental and geo-archaeological studies (see the compilation of studies in [START_REF] Alexianu | White Gold. French and Romanian Projects on Salt in the Extra-Carpathian Areas of Romania[END_REF][START_REF] Brigand | Neo-Eneolithic settlement pattern and salt exploitation in Romanian Moldavia[END_REF]. The study zone is located along the Carpathian thrust on the Moldavia Plain (Fig. 1). On the north-south branch of this thrust, more than 200 salt springs and fifteen archaeological sites linked to salt exploitation were recorded during archaeological survey (Weller et al. 2008a;[START_REF] Weller | Recherches systématiques autour des sources salées de Moldavie. Bilan 2011-2013 et synthèse de 10 ans de prospections[END_REF]. This dense concentration of sites is due to the upwelling of brine springs in sub-Carpathian Tertiary argillites rich in salt, through the numerous fault lines running through the massif.

Two of them which have our attention are Halabutoaia, near Tolici, and Poiana Slatinei, in Lunca (county Neamt) (Fig. 1 and2). The site of Poiana Slatinei was first excavated in 1984-1987 by a team led by G. [START_REF] Dumitroaia | La station archéologique de Lunca-Poiana Slatinei[END_REF], These first excavations highlighted the potential of the site about the question of salt making since Neolithic time, so we decided to re-excavate the site in 2004 and to implement new methods of investigation as micromorphology (Weller et al. 2008b). The site of Halabutoaia was discovered during prospection in 2005, then excavated and studied by our team from 2007 onwards (Weller et al. 2008a[START_REF] Weller | A pinch of salt in the Prehistoric Eastern Carpathians Mountains (Ro.)[END_REF][START_REF] Danu | Human impact and vegetation history on salt spring exploitation (Halabutoaia-Tolici, Petricani, Neamt, Romania)[END_REF]. Both sites are located near salt springs which are still used today and currently represent the oldest known salt production sites in Europe [START_REF] Weller | The earliest salt production in the world: an early Neolithic exploitation in Poiana Slatinei-Lunca, Romania[END_REF][START_REF] Weller | A pinch of salt in the Prehistoric Eastern Carpathians Mountains (Ro.)[END_REF]. They occur as thick archaeological sedimentary accumulations, which are several metres high and comprise numerous lenticular layers of clay, ash and charcoal. The salinity of both mineral springs is very high, with extreme chlorine and sodium contents (Table 1).

The location of the sites near salt sources still in use today and the presence of thick stratified archaeological sedimentary accumulations, the upper part of which contain pottery generally used for making salt blocks (called briquetages), give rise to the following working hypotheses: a) at Lunca, like at Tolici, the whole sedimentary sequence, and not just the upper part, may be linked to salt making ; b) the sedimentary changes in these sequences may reflect the evolution of exploitation techniques during the course of time. Therefore a detailed study of these deposits was carried out, beginning with chrono-stratigraphic description in the field, and followed by soil micromorphology and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with geochemical analysis (EDS). The aim of these analyses was to identify specific sedimentary and petrographic characteristics that could be linked to salt making process and perhaps to detect chemical components of edible salt (Na and Cl). Such combined use of soil micromorphology and SEM-EDS has already obtained pertinent results from salt working sites, as at the Iron Age and Roman coastal site of Essex [START_REF] Macphail | Stanford Warf, Essex (London Gateway Compensation sites A and B; compa 09): Soil micromorphology and microchemistry, chemistry and magnetic susceptibility, and FTIR[END_REF] or at Maya Marco Gonzalez, Belize [START_REF] Macphail | Ambergris Caye, Belize: A geoarchaeological record of ground raising associated with surface soil formation and the presence of a Dark Earth[END_REF]. Other workers employing SEM-EDS found traces of Na and Cl in pottery from the first millennium BC [START_REF] Flad | Archaeological and chemical evidence for yearly salt production in China[END_REF]) and, in Romania, identified salt in briquetage at the early 4th millennium sites of Tolici and Cacica [START_REF] Weller | Les premières formes d'exploitation du sel durant le Néolithique et le Chalcolithique européens : de la reconnaissance des techniques à l'analyse des dimensions socio-économiques[END_REF][START_REF] Sandu | Analyses archéométriques sur les moules à sel chalcolithiques de l'est de la Roumanie[END_REF][START_REF] Tencariu | Briquetage and salt cakes: an experimental approach of a prehistoric technique[END_REF]. However, to our knowledge, no analysis of this type has yet been conducted on sedimentary deposits produced by the first exploitation of salt springs during the 6th millennium B.C.

These new data would be able to provide a much better understanding of salt working processes and test the hypothesis of pouring brine on earth, previously proposed to explain salt making at Early Neolithic of Lunca (Weller et al. 2008b;[START_REF] Dufraisse | The alteration of Neolithic wood charcoal from the salt spring of Poiana Slatinei in Lunca (Neamt, Romania): a natural evolution or consequence of exploitation techniques ?[END_REF]. Identifying edible salt in deposits dating to the second quarter of 6th millennium at Lunca and Tolici could be an important first step for any discussion of salt making in the early European Neolithic.

Material and method

Stratigraphic study and sampling

General principles

The stratigraphic study of both sites was based on classically used methods in archaeology [START_REF] Loustaud | Techniques de fouilles terrestres[END_REF][START_REF] Wheeler | Archéologie : la voix de la terre, Trad. Archaeology from the Earth[END_REF][START_REF] Sordoillet | Géoarchéologie de sites préhistoriques : Le Gardon (Ain), Montou (Pyrénées-Orientales) et Saint-Alban (Isère)[END_REF][START_REF] Harris | Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy[END_REF]. Stratigraphic sections were drawn and the main pedo-sedimentary characteristics of the deposits were described. The main types of deposits were identified and the first hypotheses concerning site formation processes were advanced, guiding our sampling strategy. The micromorphological samples were taken from the stratigraphic profiles by removing blocks of sediment [START_REF] Murphy | Thin section preparation of soils and sediments[END_REF]. At both sites we have tried to realise the most regular sampling as possible, in the differents deposits and periods. It was relatively easy to do at Tolici, where we had a complete archaeological sequence, but not at Lunca, where most of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age deposits have been removed. The micromorphological samples were also used for making uncovered thin sections for the scanning electronic microscope and spectrometry studies (Table 2).

The location of these uncovered thin sections was chosen according to the micromorphological results, in order to get chemical composition of specific components that were believed to be salt residues.

The site of Tolici

The Tolici site forms a circular mound of about twenty meters in diameter (Fig. 1). The trench in the median part allowed the study of the 7-m-thick stratified anthropogenic accumulation (Fig. 2a-b). The main litho-stratigraphic characteristics of the 29 recorded strata reveal abundant combustion structures, as shown by the superposition of ashy-charcoal residues on reddened clays. The earliest deposits show the presence of elongated hollow shapes (Fig. 2a), while the latest deposits are horizontal (Fig. 2b).

These elongated hollows have a gentle slope toward the stream running at the foot of the depositional mound. White ashy deposits are preserved inside and their outer edges are rubefied. Radiocarbon dating and typical ceramic material place the beginning of exploitation at around 5700 BC and the end towards 3500 BC [START_REF] Weller | A pinch of salt in the Prehistoric Eastern Carpathians Mountains (Ro.)[END_REF].

Seventeen micromorphological samples were taken from deposits that were considered to be representative of the whole accumulation (Fig. 3a-b). These samples were also used for making five smaller uncovered thin sections for the SEM-EDS study. The chronological distribution of the samples is as follows: eight micromorphological thin sections for the Early Neolithic deposits (Cris cultural period), one thin section for the Middle Neolithic (Linear Pottery), two thin sections for the final Neolithic (Precucuteni), and six thin sections from the Chalcolithic (Cucuteni). SEM-EDS analyses were conducted on all these different exploitation periods, apart from the Middle Neolithic, where the deposits showed signs of mixing with the surrounding levels.

The site of Lunca

The site of Lunca forms a vast dome 65 m long by 25 m wide (Fig. 1). Two of the 1995 excavation sectors were reopened in 2004 and permitted the study of several sections, revealing a 3-m-thick stratified accumulation (Fig. 2c-d). Several tens of lenticular layers, with varied textures and colours, were brought to light and about a hundred combustion structures were recorded, sometimes with hollow or trough shapes, like at Tolici. Charcoal dating shows that the first exploitations date to about 6000 BC at the earliest, with a phase of intensification at about 5900-5600 BC, and the most recent at about 1500 BC [START_REF] Weller | The earliest salt production in the world: an early Neolithic exploitation in Poiana Slatinei-Lunca, Romania[END_REF].

Samples were taken from different points of the site, using residual sedimentary sequences not reworked by the earlier excavations (Weller et al. 2008b;[START_REF] Dufraisse | The alteration of Neolithic wood charcoal from the salt spring of Poiana Slatinei in Lunca (Neamt, Romania): a natural evolution or consequence of exploitation techniques ?[END_REF]. Twelve micromorphological samples are from the Early Neolithic deposits, located in the centre of the site, and three are from the Bronze Age levels, located on the eastern edge of the site. SEM-EDS analyses were carried out on five thin sections from the well preserved Early Neolithic deposits.

Micromorphology and scanning electronic microscopy

Sample consolidation and micromorphological thin section manufacture were carried out by Th.

Beckmann (Schwülper-Lagesbüttel, Germany), who also produced smaller uncovered thin sections for the scanning electron microscope. The locations for these smaller thin sections were selected in accordance with the micromorphological results, by targeting the sectors with crystallitic assemblages possibly linked to salt manufacture.

Established descriptive methods were applied to the micromorphological thin sections [START_REF] Bullock | Handbook for soil thin section description[END_REF][START_REF] Courty | Soils and micromorphology in archaeology[END_REF]. Each microstratigraphic unit identified in the thin sections was described and numbered in relation to its field number. The description of the sedimentary microfacies was carried out at the Chrono-environment laboratory at Besançon (France), employing a Leica DMLM microscope equipped with a DFC320 camera. The observation of the different types of organic, mineral and anthropogenic components, as well as the microstructure of the deposits result in the identification of the archaeo-sedimentary processes involved in site formation and enable us to advance hypotheses concerning salt fabrication techniques. As this salt production involves the neoformation of crystals by the evaporation of brines, particular attention was paid to the identification of these salt crystals and their stratigraphic position. During this micromorphological study, some specific features, believed to be salt residues, were selected for spectrometric analysis.

The scanning electron microscopy -energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses (SEM-EDS), were carried out at Besançon (France), initially in the UMR 6213 laboratory -Utinam, then in the UMR 6174 facility -Femto. The samples were examined with JEOL 5600 and FEI 450 microscopes, respectively coupled with EDS Fondis Electronic and Edax systems. In some cases, the analyses focused on specific crystalline forms (spot mode), and in others on average measurements over larger zones (window mode over about 10 µm). For these analyses, the thin sections were covered with a 20 nm layer of carbon by thermal sublimation using a Cressington 108 evaporator. The electronic microscopy observations were conducted with Backscatter Electron Images in composition mode. For each site, five uncovered thin sections underwent SEM-EDS analyses (Table 2, Fig. 6). At Tolici, 65 measurements were made, and at Lunca, 23 measurements were taken. The aim was to verify if edible salt residues, characterised by Na and Cl elements, could exist in the archaeological deposits, despite the fact that no halite crystal has been recognized during the micromorphological observations.

Results and preliminary discussion

Micromorphology

Five main deposit facies have been identified during the stratigraphic and micromorphological studies of the two archaeological mounds. They appear in the form of superimposed layers of various thickness and length. They have been named according to their most striking characteristics: yellowish to greenish massive clay layers, reddened clayey lenses, charcoal-rich and ashy beds, microstratified fine deposits (identified only in thin section) and heterogeneous brownish accumulations. Different salt crystals have been observed in these deposits and are summarised at the end of this section.

3.1.1. Yellowish to greenish massive clay layers At both sites, yellowish to greenish clays form the substratum of the archaeological deposits. The same kind of clays are also present as interstratified beds in the archaeological mounds. The thickness of these clay beds ranges from a few millimetres to a few centimètres.

Under the microscope, the clay forming the substratum at Lunca, just below the first archaeological levels, is homogeneous and massive, but penetrated by a few biological channels (Fig. 4a). Sand-and silt-size quartz, granite and gneiss, very numerous organic plant fragments and grass phytoliths are scattered in the groundmass. Pedofeatures consist of oxidized or yellow clay coatings and dusty clay intercalations. A few gypsum crystals are present.

Yellowish clay layers interbedded in the archaeological mounds, have the same massive fabric as the substratum, or show particule redistribution evident as banded distribution patterns or parallel striated b-fabrics (Fig. 4b). These dense and massive beds are in some ways similar to constructed floors or clay plastering (Boivin 2000;Weller et al. 2008b; Karkanas and Van de Moortel 2014). These supposed floors would have been made with wet and plastic clay that had been collected locally. As in the substratum, crystallitic material, but mostly gypsum, is presents in these clay layers.

Reddened clayey lenses

Numerous reddened silty clayey lenses, from a few centimetres to a few metres in diameter, and a few millimetres to a few centimetres in thickness, are interbedded in the archaeological mounds. Most of them were overlain by microstratified ashes and charcoal (Fig. 2d and4a). The microscopic study revealled that their fabric and microstructure are approximately similar to those of the greenish clays, and that the main difference is the reddening of the matrix (Fig. 4c-d). This rubefaction, brought about by fire, decreases from the top to the bottom indicating in situ fire places [START_REF] Dammers | Progressive loss of Carbon and Nitrogen from simulated daub on heating[END_REF][START_REF] Linford | Geophysical Evidence for Fires in Antiquity: Preliminary Results from an Experimental Study[END_REF]Weller et al. 2008b).

Charcoal-rich and ashy beds

The charcoal-rich beds are often located over the rubefied clay lenses, and in some cases on greenish, gray or gray-brown deposits. The ashy layers are superimposed on charcoal-rich beds or on rubefied clayey lenses (in situ hearths). These combustion deposits are characterized by microstratified ashes and charcoals (Fig. 4e), and contain various amounts of sherds, fragments of mudbrick, aggregates of heated or melted clays, vitreous slag, and leaf or grass phytoliths [START_REF] Canti | Aspects of the chemical and microscopic characteristics of plant ashes found in archaeological soils[END_REF]. The different combustion residues indicate temperature from 300°C to more than 1000°C, but salt can bring down the melting points. The calcitic wood ash crystals are often altered and, in some case, calcium carbonate (resulting from the dissolution of ashes) recrystallizes lower down and cements the charcoalrich deposits [START_REF] Dufraisse | The alteration of Neolithic wood charcoal from the salt spring of Poiana Slatinei in Lunca (Neamt, Romania): a natural evolution or consequence of exploitation techniques ?[END_REF]). This charcoal is generally characterised by strong fragmentation and vitrified surfaces. Often, thick clay or silty clay coatings and intercalations are present inside the porosity of charcoal and ash accumulations, indicating significant amounts of dusty water throughflow (Fig. 4f-i). Crystals or vesicular isotropic nodules which may correspond to salt residues, are present in these deposits (Fig. 4i and6).

Microstratified fine deposits

Fine microstratified deposits, a few millimetres to one centimetre in thickness, and extending over a few centimetres, have been identified during the microscopic observations (Fig. 4j-k), while they were simply described as greenish clays in field profiles. In these beds, at least ten thin lenses of fine sands, silts or clays are superimposed, with upward-fining characteristics and a relatively high fine charcoal content. These laminated deposits are interpreted as waterlaid deposits. Periodic settling phases in quiet standing water could have led to such microstratified layers. The limpid and dusty clay intercalations observed in the ashy and charcoal-rich layers (Fig. 4f-h), are believed to be linked to the same sedimentation process. Water infiltration through the deposits would have led to the migration and the trapping of clay and micro-charcoals in voids. At both sites, these fine microstratified deposits are particularly characteristic of the Early Neolithic.

Heterogeneous and chaotic accumulations

This last deposit facies appears as heterogeneous accumulations of ashes, charcoal, broken pottery and fragments of fired earth, in variable quantities from one layer to another, which have an open structure and no preferentially orientated components (Fig. 4l). Such deposits are believed to result from the remains of demolition and accumulations resulting from human activities [START_REF] Courty | Soils and micromorphology in archaeology[END_REF]). In our case, these dump facies could be associated with salt working, as in the case of the Maya site of Marco Gonzalez in Belize [START_REF] Macphail | Ambergris Caye, Belize: A geoarchaeological record of ground raising associated with surface soil formation and the presence of a Dark Earth[END_REF]. At Lunca and Tolici, such dumped deposits exist for all occupation periods, but are most frequent from the Chalcolithic onwards.

Salt crystals

At both sites, the different archaeological facies revealed the presence of crystals petrologically identified as salts. Salt crystals are naturally present in the clayey substratum at Lunca, but some of those observed in archaeological layers could be linked to salt-making. Fibro-radial crystals, observed in natural and archaeological deposits, are identified as sulfate salts (CaSO4, 2H2O; from the gypsum family; selenite, Fig. 5a). Gypsum crystals are also present as elongated laths in the Chalcolithic deposits of Tolici (Fig. 5b). Lastly, at Lunca, a Neolithic ash level contained small orthorhombic crystals of thenardite (Fig. 5c), a sodium sulfate (Na2SO4). But no sodium chloride crystals (NaCl, halite) were identified in thin sections, which can be explained by the high solubility of this edible salt.

Scanning Electron Microscope Analyses (SEM-EDS)

For each site, five thin sections underwent SEM-EDS analyses (Table 2, Fig. 6). The aim was to verify if edible salt residues, characterised by Na and Cl elements, could exist in the archaeological deposits, despite the fact that no halite crystal has been recognized during the micromorphological observations. Measurements were done on specific features and over larger zones selected during micromorphological study.

At Tolici, analyses concern the sedimentary accumulations from the Early Neolithic to the Chalcolithic (Fig. 6). No less than 65 measurements were made at different points of the five thin sections. The results only rarely reveal the presence of chlorine in association with sodium and these two elements were only detected together in the deepest deposits from Tolici, in the Early Neolithic hollow structures (Fig. 6d). These elements were associated with potassium and magnesium in ashy accumulations. Some were included in the composition of small crystals, but larger amounts were located in massive units with a melted aspect (Fig. 6c).

At Lunca, 23 measurements were taken on the five thin sections from the Early Neolithic deposits.

Sodium, potassium and chlorine elements were detected in ashes and waste deposits, associated with sherds.

In conclusion, presence of Na and Cl in the Neolithic ashes, and not in the more recent deposits, seem to indicate that different techniques to collect salt have been used over time. Maybe, leaching could have contributed to the removing of Na and Cl in recent deposits, but if so, why not in the older ones ? Salt could have move through porous deposits as found in porous ceramics [START_REF] Raad | Testing a novel method to identify salt production pottery via release and detection of chloride ions[END_REF]), but in this case why did it stop in the Early Neolithic ashes and not in the other deposits ? It certainly would be useful to get complementary data from other sites to go farther in the discussion.

Discussion and conclusion

Archaeological and stratigraphic study, soil micromorphology and SEM/EDS analyses conducted at Lunca and Tolici enabled us to identify the main sedimentary processes involved in site formation and to be able to discuss their link with salt-working techniques.

At both sites, the excavation and chrono-stratigraphic study showed that the most recent deposits, which are generally more recent than 4300 BC, contained remains of salt moulds (briquetages), whereas the older deposits were characterized by vast combustion structures. Due to the absence of briquetage in the early deposits, the hypothesis has been advanced that pouring of brine onto hot embers could be a salt making process during the Early Neolithic. This hypothesis is partly based on descriptions by Ancient writers (Varro, Pliny the Elder and Tacitus, see Moinier, Weller 2015: 43-44), but also upon 18th century ethno-historic records, which describe Romanian farmers pouring brine onto embers (Ceausu 1982: 379). This technique was also experimentally tested by pouring salt water with a concentration of 30 g/l NaCl, onto a fire, which led to the recovery, after evaporation, of a grey salt with a high sodium chloride content [START_REF] Dufraisse | Techniques d'exploitation préhistorique du sel en Franche-Comté et en Bourgogne[END_REF]).

Micromorphology of the Early Neolithic deposits reveals the presence of numerous in situ hearths, characterised by microstratified charcoal-rich and ashy beds overlying reddened deposits. At first, these hearth fires were lit on yellowish silty clay layers showing characteristics of man-made floors [START_REF] Karkanas | Micromorphological analysis of sediments at the Bronze Age site of Mitrou, central Greece : patterns of floor construction and maintenance[END_REF][START_REF] Macphail | Ambergris Caye, Belize: A geoarchaeological record of ground raising associated with surface soil formation and the presence of a Dark Earth[END_REF], and became reddened in their upper parts.

These hearths have been used repeatedly, with considerable supplies of fuel [START_REF] Dufraisse | The alteration of Neolithic wood charcoal from the salt spring of Poiana Slatinei in Lunca (Neamt, Romania): a natural evolution or consequence of exploitation techniques ?[END_REF].

The presence of clay, dusty clay or silty clay waterlaid deposits, interbedded in the combustion residues, seem to be consistent with the hypothesis of salt making carried out by pouring brine onto hearth embers. The existence of neoformed automorphic crystals similar to those characterizing evaporite contexts [START_REF] Warren | Evaporites. Sediments, Resources and Hydrocarbons[END_REF][START_REF] Mees | Salt minerals in saline soils and salt crusts[END_REF]) could be evidence of the evaporation of brine. Although the neoformed salts observed with the optical microscope are not edible salt (halite), the identification of Na and Cl with SEM-EDS in the Early Neolithic ashes at Lunca and Tolici, and never in the more recent ashy deposits, also seems to support the link between the hearth structures and the brine evaporation. In this case, the hollow shape of the combustion structures excavated at Tolici would be designed to avoid the excessive dispersion of the brine and concomitant concentration of salt.

On the other hand, during the Chalcolithic, dumped deposits take precedence over microlayered combustion beds and waterlaid deposits, underlining the evolution of salt-making techniques. The very abundant sherds characterizing these discharge facies are not only from pottery used for transporting and storing brines, but also represent the remains of salt moulds (briquetages), which were widely used at that time [START_REF] Tencariu | Briquetage and salt cakes: an experimental approach of a prehistoric technique[END_REF].

Finally, although more research is required, the analyses of the sedimentary facies of the sites of Lunca and Tolici, using optical and electronic microscopy associated with dispersive energy X-ray spectrometry, is already helping our team to discern several aspects of the likely techniques used to produce edible salt. The combustion and waterlaid deposits, the neoformed salt crystals, and the presence of Na and Cl elements in ashes, seem to attest to salt making by the direct evaporation of brine on embers, during the Early Neolithic, or about 6000-5300 BC. At both of the studied sites, exploitation techniques change after 4300 BC during the Chalcolithic, with the advent of briquetage use, but which disappear at the beginning of the Bronze Age.

In addition to these advances in understanding salt making processes, one positive result is that the identification of Na and Cl with SEM-EDS has improved our detection of edible salt in micromorphological thin sections. Edible salt, which is an invisible substance before crystallisation and which is easily soluble in water, appear as isotropic colourless vitreous nodules with vesicular porosity (Fig. 6). Of course, care is needed in order not to confuse these salt-associated nodules with melted phytoliths that have similar aspect. Continued microscopic analyses, or other bulk soil chemistry analyses, at Tolici, Lunca and other production sites will undoubtedly provide more information on salt making deposits and the processes involved. Other components of the interdisciplinary study are currently being explored, such as the evaluation of the environmental impact of exploitation techniques, the underlying social functions and the different uses of this earliest salt working in the world. (1.5 column ; color online) Fig. 3. Stratigraphic section and sampling a -First samples from the elongated hollow at the base of the archaeological mound at Tolici, when it was discovered (samples 3 and 4 were taken 1 metre higher, in Cucuteni horizontal levels ; see also online AppendixA-FigA1-A5); b -illustration of sampling from the different levels of the main stratigraphic section.

Figures captions

(full page width ; color online)

Fig. 1 .Fig. 2 .

 12 Fig. 1. Location of the archaeological sites The extension of the archaeological deposits is approximately indicated by white dotted ellipses. (1.5 column ; color online)

Fig. 4 .aFig. 6 .

 46 Fig. 4. Archaeological micro-sedimentary faciesa Scan of thin section from Lunca, with yellowish clay of substratum at the bottom, and charcoals layers upon reddened clay in the upper part; b Banded distribution of silt and clay in an interbedded yellowish layer at Tolici; c Superimposed lenses of silt and clay, reddened by fire; d Same kind of deposit as c, partly deformed by the fall of a grain of sand; e -Hearth deposits with microstratified white ashes and wood charcoal; f -Cha c al and a he i h lim id cla in e cala i n e l ing c ked cla fl a L nca; g White ashes with limpid and dusty clay intercalations at Tolici; h Detail of previous thin section showing several superimposed layers of silt and fine sand with many charcoal particles, and clay or dusty clay lenses ; i Isotropic white vesicular nodule and leaf residue embedded in microlayered clays; j -Scan of thin section from Lunca with fine microstratified deposits; k Detail of previous thin section showing fining up from fine sand to dusty clay in successive layers: l heterogeneous deposit, with charcoal and sherds.cf -cla fl; ch -wood charcoal; dc -dusty clay; fs-fine sand; lc-limpid clay; lr-leaf residue; rcrubefied clay; sh-sherd; vn-vesicular nodule; wa-white ashes. PPL plane polarised light; XPL cross polarised light.

  Figure 1

Table 1 .

 1 Chemical composition of the spring waters from Tolici and Lunca Analyses J. Mudry and C. Loup, Laboratoire de Chimie des Eaux, Université de Franche-Comté.

		Cl (mg/l)	SO 4 (mg/l) Ca (mg/l) Na (mg/l)	Mg (mg/l)	K (mg/l)
	Poiana Slatina, Lunca, summer	158,000.00 9,400.00	760.00	94,000.00	210.00	80.00
	2004
	Halabutoaia, Tolici, summer 2007 190,597.00 7,463.00	1,040.00 113,000.00 190.00	35.00

Table 1

 1

Table 2 .

 2 List of the analysed samples

		Cultural period	Micromorphology	SEM-EDS (number of analyses)
	Tolici	Cucuteni (Chalcolithic)	µ3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10	µ6e-(5) µ10e-(18)
		Precucuteni (Late Neolithic)	µ11, µ12	µ11e-(10)
		Linear Pottery (Middle Neolithic)	µ13
		Cris	µ1, 2	µ15e-(13)
		(Early Neolithic)	µ14, 15, 16, 17	µ17e-(10)
	Lunca	Cucuteni	Excavation SXI :
		(Chalcolithic)	µ12, 13, 14
		Cris (Early Neolithic)	Excavation S1-02, section : -W : µ1, 2, 3, 6, 7 -N : µ8 -E : µ9, 10, 11 -S : µ15, 16	µ1e-(7) µ3e-(5) µ6e-(3) µ7e-(7) µ10e-(10)

Table 2

 2

	Iasi

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Commission for Foreign Excavations (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) and the National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS, UMR 8215 Trajectoires and UMR 6249 Chrono-environnement) for their support. The authors also thank the History & Archaeology Museum of Neamt for their continued cooperation. This work was partly supported by the French RENATECH network and the FEMTO-ST technological facility. We also express our gratitude to Isabelle Jouffroy-Bapicot, Jacques Mudry, Christophe Loup, Bruno Régent, Louise Byrne, Boris Vannière and Nick Marriner for their help during different stages of this work. Finally, we greatly thank the reviewers of this article for their constructive comments.

Earliest salt working in the world: from excavation to microscopy at the prehistoric sites of Tolici and Lunca (Romania) Sordoillet D., Weller O., Rouge N., Buatier M., Sizun J.-P.

A rajouter à la légende de la figure 3 : Samples µ1 to µ4 were taken when the site was discovered, at the base of the archaeological mound (Fig. 3a). The 13 other samples are from the trench excavated in the archaeological accumulation the following year (Fig. 3b).


Frantz Rowe
email: frantz.rowe@univ-nantes.fr

Redouane El

Marc Bidan
email: marc.bidan@univ-nantes.fr

Rolande Marciniak
email: rolande.marciniak@u-paris10.fr

Bénédicte Geffroy-Maronnat

DOES ERP PROVIDE A CROSS-FUNCTIONAL VIEW OF THE FIRM? CHALLENGING CONVENTIONAL WISDOM FOR SMES AND LARGE FRENCH FIRMS

Keywords: ERP, cross-functionality, flexibility, organizational vision, core modules, speed, firm size

This paper defines cross-functionality as the awareness that organizational actors have of the coupled and integrated nature of processes across various business units, which allows employees to deliver products and services to customers. That the implementation of enterprise systems (ES) provides a more complete crossfunctional view of the firm has been taken for granted by managers and researchers alike. The cross-functional potential of enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a widely-held assumption and is one approaching conventional wisdom: "Because ERPs tear down walls within organizations, they help everyone to understand their impact on an entire operation. Ultimately, companies find their staff adopting an increasingly broad enterprise perspective rather than a departmental one" (McKeen and Smith 2003, p. 143). This paper challenges this conventional wisdom that equates technical integration and socio-cognitive integration. The "impacts" of ERP systems depend on organizational context and implementation process. We show that flexibility, the primary goal of ERP adoption, as well as implementation strategy factors (organizational vision, speed, and core modules) exert a positive impact on cross-functionality in small and medium enterprises but not in large firms. These findings are obtained through a study of 100 French firms, then further illustrated and built upon by investigating two medium-size firms as opposed to two large firms. The findings suggest that large firms might have fewer problems than SMEs in bringing different business functions to be integrated into the project. Further, they also might have a larger inter-organizational scope of integration, but their ERP systems do not foster cross-functionality. There is also a need for social interaction to coordinate activities effectively. In SMEs, cross-functionality may be easier to reach with adequate implementation strategy.

Introduction

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems promise to replace discrete, home grown systems with an integrated, enterprise-wide infrastructure that will streamline organizational activities and eliminate duplication of effort and data [START_REF] Shang | Accessing and Managing the Benefits of Enterprise Systems: The Business Manager's Perspective[END_REF]. These shared information systems have been diffused rapidly and extensively, especially across large firms (Parr and Shanks 12 2005 -Twenty-Sixth International Conference on Information Systems 2003). Even small organizations are increasingly installing them [START_REF] Van Everdingen | ERP Adoption by European Midsize Companies[END_REF]. ERP systems are more integrated than conventional IS because the different modules are designed to be tightly coupled and their evolving architecture and expanding functionality promise cross-functional integration of all information flowing through a company (Markus and Tanis 2000). In an ideal implementation, ERP systems affect numerous parts of the organization simultaneously rather than a single department alone and can serve each different department's particular needs. ERP systems may facilitate a cross-functional view of how organizations work and trigger broader organizational changes [START_REF] Robey | Learning to Implement Enterprise Systems: An Exploratory Study of the Dialectics of Change[END_REF]. This effect of cross-functionality is taken for granted when ERP modules are implemented. Generally, there is some confusion between cross-functional integration and its perception by social actors. Up to now, authors have failed to distinguish between cross-functional integration in theory and the perception that organizational actors have of their activity as it relates to the overall business processes in which they contribute (i.e., cross-functional integration in practice). For reasons of clarity, we use cross-functionality as a concept describing the perception of organizational actors and we consider the impact of ERP implementation and organizational context on crossfunctionality.

The cross-functional potential of ERP is a widely held assumptions, one approaching conventional wisdom: "Because ERPs tear down walls within organizations, they help everyone to understand their impact on an entire operation. Ultimately, companies find their staff adopting an increasingly broad enterprise perspective rather than a departmental one" (McKeen and Smith 2003, p. 143). It is important to address this question because the principle of cross-functional integration via a single database is new for many companies and cross-functionality is supposed to offer several benefits. For example, cross-functionality may help understand better the perspective taken by other functions [START_REF] Boland | Perspective Making and Perspective Taking in Communities of Knowing[END_REF], develop a more collective sense of belonging, and facilitate the reduction of cross-functional conflicts by ensuring political correctness [START_REF] Huang | Knowledge Integration Process and Dynamics Within the Context of Cross-Functional Projects[END_REF][START_REF] Hutt | Hurdle the Cross-Functional Barriers to Strategic Change[END_REF].

Since it is recognized that small-to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are different from large companies, it is important in the context of ERP implementation (Markus and Tanis 2000) to examine and compare the factors that foster a perception of a more cross-functional overview both in SMEs and large companies [START_REF] Mabert | The Impact of Organization Size on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Implementations in the U.S. Manufacturing Sector[END_REF]. Implementation strategies seem to have an effect on cross-functionality [START_REF] El Amrani | ERP Implementation and Change: Towards a Cross-Functional View[END_REF]. The aim of this paper is to challenge this conventional wisdom by asking whether ERP systems are improving cross-functionality independently of the context of company size and implementation strategies. We first examine the theoretical bases of cross-functionality as well as the ERP literature on which we have formulated our hypotheses. Our methodology is then described. We present the tests results of our quantitative study and discuss our results. Finally, we conclude this paper by mentioning future research directions for this topic.

Cross-Functionality with ERP

In this paper, we define cross-functionality as the awareness that organizational actors have of the coupled and integrated nature of processes across different organizational units that permit the delivery of services and products to customers. The literature on cross-functionality puts the emphasis on the precedence of processes over functions and ushers in a new vision of an organization built around a partition-free horizontal structure and multifunctional working teams [START_REF] Galbraith | Competing with Flexible Lateral Organizations[END_REF]. According to this view, cross-functional integration represents the extent to which different business processes and functions are interconnected, standardized, and tightly coupled [START_REF] Orton | Loosely Coupled Systems: A Reconceptualization[END_REF]. A process is "a lateral or horizontal organizational form, that encapsulates the interdependence of tasks, roles, people, departments and functions required to provide a customer with a product or service" (Earl 1994, p. 13). Past research indicates that horizontal integration can offer performance advantages over vertical integration and is a critical determinant for facilitating cooperation across business functions [START_REF] Davenport | Mission Critical: Realizing the Promise of Enterprise Systems[END_REF]. The decision to adopt an ERP system is part of a general question of technical integration of processes in the firm. However, the emergence of cross-functionality depends on how the system is implemented by the company. ERP implementation does not intrinsically guarantee the cross-functionality of the organization. It is not something that can be imposed; it has to be built throughout the project's life cycle [START_REF] Besson | ERP Project Dynamics and Enacted Dialogue: Perceived Understanding, Perceived Leeway, and the Nature of Task-Related Conflicts[END_REF].

Some factors help this cross-functional logic in companies. For the sake of parsimony, we looked at how some important implementation factors for improving cross-functionality could be articulated from a theoretical viewpoint. Many of the threads running through the existing literature on change can be adopted and applied to ERP projects [START_REF] Boudreau | Organizational Transition to ERP Systems: Theoretical Choices for Process Research[END_REF]. We have, therefore, retained two major contributions from prior research. First, [START_REF] Leonard-Barton | Implementation Characteristics of Organizational Innovations[END_REF] work on organizational innovation shows that innovation implementation characteristics are based on implementation strategies which, in turn, determine whether a specific innovation is accepted or rejected. This claim is probably simplistic, but it effectively highlights the essential characteristics of innovation, which are both constraints and choices for managing change. There are three subsets of such characteristics.

Transferability: whether a given innovation is transferable depends on the preparations made and the effectiveness with which it can be communicated to potential adopters.

Implementation complexity is linked not only to the number of target users but also, and particularly so from our point of view, to their organizational differentiation. The more business functions an innovation supports, the more difficult it is to ensure acceptance since the innovation must address a number of distinct organizational subcultures.

Innovation divisibility streamlines potential difficulties involved in enterprise-wide usage. Divisibility is linked to innovation modularity and to opportunities for personalizing it.

The modular and configurable nature of ERP systems makes them an inherently divisible technology and, therefore, capable of responding to complex implementation strategies. If the scope of the project deals with a large number of functions, the company will have the option to implement a divisible technology in an incremental fashion rather than as a monolithic block.

A second major contribution to our research, [START_REF] Gallivan | Implementing Radical Change: Gradual Versus Rapid Pace[END_REF] clearly addressed the debate on the speed of implementation of radical innovations. These authors stress that in many cases, two quite different questions are confused: the extent of the change envisaged and the speed of the implementation. Per [START_REF] Hammer | Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution[END_REF], it is common to distinguish radical from incremental change. These two types of implementation strategies both link scope with speed. Radical change would be far-reaching and rapid, while incremental change would be a sequence of small steps made at a pace to suit the participants involved and adjusted by mutual agreement.

Cross-Functionality through Communicability and Searching for Flexibility

Information sharing between departments and cross-functionality are not sought by all firms. This presupposes that the key decision makers have specified their goals and defined an organizational vision prior to implementing the ERP solution [START_REF] Van Stijn | Organizational Memory and the Completeness of Process Modeling in ERP Systems: Some Concerns, Methods and Directions for Future Research[END_REF]. In practical terms, the top management team must define both the goals pursued in choosing an ERP (H1), and the desired organizational vision, which consists of clearly outlining the future organization and the direction that project participants should follow to achieve their aims [START_REF] Lipton | Demystifying the Development of an Organizational Vision[END_REF]) (H2).

Clear goals should be specific and indicate the general direction of the project [START_REF] Kumar | ERP Experiences and Evolution[END_REF]. Furthermore, the underlying purpose of the project must remain clear and consistent through all stages of the project lifecycle. For SMEs, a strategic objective is to build an IS that provides the foundation for rapid response to changing market conditions, which is now referred to as agility [START_REF] Carton | Understanding the Impact of Enterprise Systems on Management Decision Making: An Agenda for Future Research[END_REF]. This objective also applies to large firms, as dominant actors change throughout the project [START_REF] Besson | ERP Project Dynamics and Enacted Dialogue: Perceived Understanding, Perceived Leeway, and the Nature of Task-Related Conflicts[END_REF], while strategic goals and political agendas may also evolve during implementation [START_REF] Lee | Dominant Actors, Political Agendas, and Strategic Shifts Over Time: A Critical Ethnography of an Enterprise Systems Implementation[END_REF]. Indeed, one of the major goals of ERP adoption is organizational flexibility [START_REF] Wood | Reductionism and Complex Thinking During ERP Implementations[END_REF]. It is, however, unclear whether this holds in all organizational contexts.

If cross-functionality is a consequence of lateral organizational capabilities that seek to achieve flexibility (Galbraith 1994, xviii), this suggests that H1: The goal of achieving a more flexible lateral organization for ERP adoption promotes a stronger crossfunctional perspective of the firm.

In such complex projects, the top management team must be engaged from the start and not just involved [START_REF] Brown | Managing the Next Wave of Enterprise Systems: Leveraging Lessons from ERP[END_REF]. How is it possible for ERP implementation to be successful if the company doesn't know what goals it is trying to achieve? The "organizational drama" at the company Metalica [START_REF] Avital | SAP Implementation at Metalica: An Organizational Drama in Two Acts[END_REF] following SAP implementation was attributed to insufficient engagement on the part of senior management, both during requirements definition and during the "visioning" stage of defining the future organization. Managers need to express their interpretation of the vision and their intentions through clear targets, so that the project's objectives can be communicated to users in due course [START_REF] Avison | Suggestions for Capturing Corporate Vision in Strategic Information Systems[END_REF].

Clear goals are a prerequisite for project success and should help users to understand the benefits of cross-functional integration.

H2: Defining a clear organizational vision by top management prior to ERP implementation promotes a stronger cross-functional perspective of the organization.

Cross-Functionality through Functional Coverage

Selected at an early stage by top management as part of arriving at an organizational vision, the notion of ERP implementation scope reflects how many modules have penetrated an organization's business processes [START_REF] Davenport | Mission Critical: Realizing the Promise of Enterprise Systems[END_REF]. The organizational boundary of the ERP project provides a sense of the scope of changes required. When functional coverage is wide and takes into account almost all of the company's functions and departments, the ERP project assumes strategic importance and leads to profound change. On the other hand, when ERP is chosen to cover a limited number of support functions, then strategic considerations become secondary and the scope of future change is narrower [START_REF] Bingi | Critical Issues Affecting an ERP Implementation[END_REF].

Through the various forms of interdependence that it introduces, ERP encourages a cross-functional approach and takes users out of functional silos in direct proportion to the extent of ERP coverage. But is it simply that the wider the integration scope chosen, the greater that the user's perception of cross-functionality becomes, or is such cross-functionality determined by the specific ERP modules to be implemented [START_REF] Porter | Competitive Advantage[END_REF]?

H3: Greater coverage of core functions of the company promotes a stronger cross-functional perspective of the firm.

Cross-Functionality: A Result of Speed of Deployment?

There are two basic implementation strategies that may be adopted: the "big bang" or the progressive option [START_REF] Boudreau | Organizational Transition to ERP Systems: Theoretical Choices for Process Research[END_REF]. Progressive implementation proceeds module-by-module and/or site-by-site. Conversely, when a company chooses a big bang implementation, it seeks to simultaneously implement all ERP modules both simultaneously and pervasively. The financial risks inherent in such a complex project and the interdependence of the ERP modules demand rapid implementation in order to maximize the benefits of process integration [START_REF] Beretta | Unleashing the Integration Potential of ERP Systems: The Role of Process-Based Performance Measurement Systems[END_REF]. However, rapid implementation avoids the complication of temporary interfaces and other problems associated with introducing organizational change gradually and progressively.

Moreover, it is easier to make users aware of ERP's benefits-such as cross-functionality-if the implementation approach is rapid [START_REF] Adam | Investigating the Reality of ERP Implementations[END_REF] because users must adopt the cross-functional logic embedded in the ERP system in order to use it. If the big bang strategy fails however, there is a risk of the ERP becoming dysfunctional as users attempt to find ways to work "outside the system" (Markus et al. 2000).

Within the perspective of progressive implementation, the firm's processes are, by definition, unstable: the sequential introduction of selected modules destabilizes business processes in the short-and medium-term, thus triggering ongoing learning processes, due to continual change. Notably, these repercussions place a burden on ERP users to properly assimilate the functionalities of the first modules installed, to prepare for subsequent new functionalities (with an increase in future versions), and to understand the interactions that link them to other business applications throughout the company.

H4:

Faster implementation promotes a stronger cross-functional perspective of the firm.

Size as Contingent Variable

Specific concerns for SMEs during ERP adoption are related to their intrinsic characteristics such as small size, centralized management, lack of organizational specialization, intuitive strategic planning, and generally unsophisticated internal and external IS. [START_REF] Blili | Information Technology: Threats and Opportunities for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises[END_REF] point out some deficiencies that SMEs face during IT adoption: lack of competency and know-how, insufficient qualified human resources, and lack of appropriate support technologies or organizational structures. [START_REF] Laukkanen | ERP System Adoption: Does the Size Matter?[END_REF] show that small firms have fewer resources and, in particular, have problems in gaining sufficient participation from different organizational functions during ERP selection. Larger companies report improvements in financial measures following ERP implementation, whereas smaller companies report better performance in core functions such as manufacturing and logistics [START_REF] Mabert | The Impact of Organization Size on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Implementations in the U.S. Manufacturing Sector[END_REF]. This seems to indicate a different scope of integration, with more support functions in large firms. Conversely, in Finland, there seems to be no difference in scope at the intra-organizational level, but medium and large firms seem to prioritize the ERP's interorganizational integration capabilities [START_REF] Laukkanen | ERP System Adoption: Does the Size Matter?[END_REF].

The factors discussed above should have an effect on cross-functionality; however, we lack knowledge of whether the effects are related to firm size. We believe that SMEs, in general, have more centralized management structures, compared to large firms, which may help them to quickly define their future organizational vision. In addition, SMEs have a narrower scope and flatter organizational structure that does not pose barriers to a rapid ERP implementation in core business functions. Managers in SMEs also know that one of their assets is their cross-functional view of their processes, due to their limited size. This greater insight into cross-functional processes can be enhanced by implementing an ERP system to help SMEs adapt to market changes more rapidly than large firms. Conversely, prior research on ERP implementation in large firms shows that introduction of ERPs in core functions may not be sufficient to improve cross-functional awareness of business processes, even when the goal is efficiency and elimination of divisional barriers [START_REF] Newell | Social Capital in ERP Projects: The Differential Sources and Effects Of Bridging And Bonding[END_REF].

H5: Size is an important moderating factor of the previous hypotheses.

Our research model is presented in Figure 1.

Methodology: Mixed Survey and Case Studies

This research is based on a survey using quantitative methods and case studies as complementary [START_REF] Kaplan | Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Information Systems Research: A Case Study[END_REF]. This complementarity in IS research was also suggested by [START_REF] Mingers | Combining IS research Methods: Towards a Pluralist Methodology[END_REF], who argued that much could be gained from collecting both quantitative and qualitative data in the same study. In our study, we first began with qualitative methods by conducting a series of interviews. The design of our questionnaire greatly benefitted from the case studies, which provided key insights for developing the questionnaire items. In turn, vignettes from our case studies serve to underscore key relationships in the survey data and offer more depth to the quantitative results. These qualitative examples remain primarily illustrative. We begin with a brief analysis of the design of the qualitative and quantitative research instruments employed within this study.

Qualitative methods: Data from 41 interviews in four firms that had implemented ERP systems were collected during two research phases: first 31 interviews were conducted during 2001, with 10 additional interviews conducted in 2003. Data were collected at different managerial levels and from various functional departments, in order to obtain different points of view: endusers (accounting, logistics, sales and human resources, operations), key users who participated in the ERP project teams, middle managers, and top management. We conducted all interviews after the ERP projects were completed. An interview guide was used to conduct all interviews. Data were collected using various techniques, which provided multiple perspectives and enhanced the validity of the findings [START_REF] Eisenhardt | Building Theories from Case Study Research[END_REF]). These included semi-structured and unstructured interviews, as well as reviews of company and project documentation. Background data for the four research sites are summarized in Table 1. All interview data were analyzed and case summaries were developed. Later in the paper, we employ insights from these case studies to illustrate and explain the results of the statistical tests.

Quantitative methods: Subsequent to collecting and analyzing our case study data, we developed a survey, which we administered to members of CIGREF (Club Informatique des Grandes Entreprises Françaises) 1 in France for large companies, as well as a sample of SMEs with which the university has key contacts. The design of our questionnaire greatly benefitted from 2 To locate prior research on cross-functionality, we conducted Internet searches (EBSCO, Science Direct, Google) that covered North American and European IS journals, as well as in management and operations management. We found few references, and most of these were to "crossfunctional projects" or "cross-functional teams." Subsequent reading of the IS and management literature revealed that various researchers had used the term cross-functionality either with respect to technical integration only or without any definition. With that realization, we sought to clearly define and measure the construct of cross-functionality. the case studies in various industries, which provided the basic context for developing the questionnaire. All survey items were developed as original items for our study, and were pretested by various respondents (including three project managers, two consultants, and three key users) to check its validity. It was posted and sent by e-mail, in January 2002, to a population of 223 SMEs and 116 large companies in France. In April 2002, we had received 177 responses (a 52 percent response rate). Respondents were ERP project managers, CIOs, CEOs, and functional managers, since these individuals were best informed about the ERP implementation processes and outcomes. Responses were coded and extensively checked for validity. All answers with questionable validity were discarded. A total of 77 responses were omitted from our analyses because the responding organizations had not adopted ERP systems. This left us with exactly 100 completed questionnaires-55 from SMEs (fewer than 500 employees) and 45 from major companies (see Table 2). The resulting data were analyzed using SPSS.

Developing a Measure of Cross-Functionality (The Dependent Variable)

One of the challenges of our study was developing a reliable cross-functionality metric, which is lacking in the existing ERP and organizational literature at present. 2 We first discussed the issue of cross-functional integration with 15 informants from the four case study firms. From this belief elicitation about cross-functionality, we later created five survey items related to the concept of cross-functionality. During our survey pretest, we paid close attention to our pilot subjects' responses to these items. The eight pretest respondents did not mention any problems understanding the survey questions; however, their responses are certainly influenced by their job roles: project managers and senior managers were influenced by their own views of cross-functionality, as were users. We believe these questions and questionnaire were taken seriously and were understood. No returned questionnaires mentioned any difficulties. We analyzed results from the cross-functionality items, each of which was based on five-point Likert scales, ranging from "completely agree" to "completely disagree." The items were as follows:

• "In my opinion, ERP users have a broader view of their department"

• "In my opinion, ERP users have a broader view of their company"

• "In my opinion, ERP users are more aware of the integrated character of cross-functional processes"

• "In my opinion, ERP users are more aware of the effect their actions may have on the work of others"

• "In my opinion, ERP users believe that they have a single system of reference"

We analyzed internal reliability using Cronbach's alpha. The values obtained from four possible combinations of the above items ranged from 0.40 to 0.92. We selected the best combination, consisting of the first three items, to create our cross-functionality metric (alpha = 0.92). The cross-functionality metric, therefore, sums the values (0 to 4) across the three items and may assume values from 0 (minimal cross-functionality) to 12 (maximum cross-functionality). The mean value for our 100 respondents on the cross-functionality construct was 6.99, with a standard deviation of 2.94. We note also a modal value of 9 and a median of 8. This result seems to support the conventional wisdom that ERP systems increase stakeholders' perceptions of crossfunctionality, but perhaps not in all implementation contexts.

Results for Independent Variables

This section explains the four independent variables, which were created for our study.

Flexibility Goal

Which reasons pushed you to adopt an ERP system?

Respondents were asked to rank order their principal reasons for adopting ERP based on the following list of reasons: modernization of IS, reorganization of processes, improving the organization's flexibility, improving communication between departments, improved access to information for decision-making, achievement of growth objectives, preparation for year 2000, preparation for Euro changeover, mandate by a parent firm, and other reasons. Results are presented in Table 3.

For 47 percent of our sample, achieving organizational flexibility was one of the top three reasons for adopting an ERP system. This was the top goal in 53 percent of SMEs, but in only 40 percent of large firms.

The Organizational Vision

Was the implementation of your ERP system guided by the definition of a targeted organizational vision by the top management Team?

Survey result show that nearly two-thirds of companies (61 percent) had defined an organizational vision prior to implementing ERP; 39 percent did not define it. Identifying such a vision was the main preoccupation of top management, yet its form differed depending on the context: companies decided to centralize or decentralize their organizational structures as part of harmonizing their processes. F r e q u e n c y 1 6 2 0 3 0 1 6 1 8 1 0 0

Number of Core Modules Functions Implemented

All companies in our sample had implemented at least two modules and had at least 6 months' experience in using them across business units. Respondents were asked to identify which modules they had implemented from the following list: accounting, finance, production, procurement, logistics, sales, human resources, project management, maintenance, others. For each item, respondents could indicate whether it had already been implemented and if not, if it was planned or even envisioned for the future.

Hence the variable labeled "number of core modules" sums the total number of modules implemented across the five core categories: production, logistics, procurement, sales, and maintenance. Table 4 presents the results for the core modules variable, which is less than to the total number of ERP modules that firms had adopted (Mean: overall sample (4.39), SMEs (4.76), large firms (3.93)). We believe the total number of core modules implemented is more meaningful than the total number of implemented modules for purposes of understanding cross-functionality. (Many firms require the ERP accounting module be implemented, even if it is not used by the accounting staff.) Moreover, we believe that having a cross-functional firm view requires core functions to be implemented.

Speed of Implementation

Which method was used to deploy your ERP?

The companies in our sample opted in equal measure for one of the two implementation strategies: big bang (47 percent), progressive (47 percent), others (6 percent).

Results

Correlation and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

For each of our hypotheses, we examined the link between each independent variable (flexibility goals, organizational vision, speed, and core modules) and the dependent variable to be explained (cross-functionality). The data were analyzed using ANOVA to test H1, H2, and H4, and Pearson's correlation coefficient to test H3 (see Table 5). We examined the correlations among all the independent variables for possible evidence of multicollinearity and found none. Our survey results indicate that all factors are significant for the whole sample, but their impact is strongly moderated by firm size. In order to check for spurious significance of some correlations, we calculated the means for each subpopulation (see Table 6). It clearly appears for SMEs that, when the top management team has defined an organizational vision prior to ERP implementation in a big-bang approach, cross functionality is greater (8.74) than when such a vision is overlooked (7.0) or when it has been defined but in a more progressive manner (7.74). In the latter two cases, cross-functionality is nevertheless greater than when implementation has been progressive but with no organizational vision (5.08). Also, cross-functionality is associated with increased project scope (i.e., number of core modules), which was statistically significant for SMEs and for the overall sample, but not for the large firms.

The various methods crossing speed and organizational vision have the same effects on the level of cross-functionality for the large firms, but the observed differences are far lower. Moreover, with all methods except in the last case (progressive/no vision), cross-functionality is higher for SMEs than for large firms.

Regressions Tests

We conducted multiple regression analysis in order to simultaneously evaluate the various predictors that contribute to enhanced cross-functionality. In order to take into account possible relationships among the independent variables, we employed stepwise regression (see Table 7). Stepwise regression results for the entire sample showed that three predictor variables (organizational vision, speed, and number of core functions) were related to cross-functionality (adjusted R 2 = 0.283, p < .000). We repeated the same analysis separately for the SMEs (n = 55) and for the large firms. In analyzing the large firms alone (n = 45), none of the predictor variable were statistically significant, while for the SMEs, two predictors were statistically significant (the number of core modules installed and top managements' definition of an organizational vision). Both predictor variables were positively related to cross-functionality, as we expected. One team project for all functions (6 people)

Step by step implementation Gruau Objective: improve IS flexibility Scope: core functions (logistic & production)/support functions (control operating, accounting, purchasing, sales) One team project for all functions (6 people) Big-bang implementation strategy

Case Study Results

The results of the case studies are presented in Table 8.

Discussion and Illustration of Cases

We now present the discussion of the results analyzed in parallel with four case studies and by emphasizing the moderating effect of firm size. This analysis not only describes which hypotheses were supported, but illustrates the supported hypotheses with case study vignettes.

H1:

The goal of achieving a more flexible lateral organization for ERP adoption promotes a stronger crossfunctional perspective of the firm.

Table 5 shows that H1 can be rejected for the overall sample, but is supported for SMEs. Indeed, flexibility is the top goal for ERP adoption, although this result was moderated by firm size (see Table 7). The three principal reasons of SMEs for adopting ERP are improving company flexibility (53 percent), reorganization of processes (43 percent) and modernization of IS (26 percent). Conversely, for large companies, modernization of IS (64 percent) ranked first, whereas improving flexibility (40 percent) ranked last of the three main reasons.

In the case of the two SMEs in which we conducted interviews (RBL and Gruau), IS obsolescence was perceived as a barrier to flexibility (i.e., lead-time and variety management) vis-à-vis their clients and overcoming this barrier was a determining factor in the choice of ERP system. The ERP implementation objectives for both RBL and Gruau were having a more inclusive and coherent IS built around a single database accessible to all departments and improving flexibility. Thanks to this form of interdependence, both companies were able to reduce the number of steps required to find information, resulting in few phone calls and less paper being circulated. The two large companies that we studied (Air France and Renault) were already in a phase

3 For example, sales module users explained that they now have a more cross-functional overview and, thus, have the necessary information to perform their work. They can now view product inventory levels without needing to call the production department to know whether they can fulfil customer orders. Such cross-functional operation was impossible prior to ERP, where viewing inventory levels required more than two people.

2005 -Twenty-Sixth International Conference on Information Systems 21 of modernizing there is, the goal of which was simplifying their IT architectures, rather than enhancing the firms' level of flexibility.

H2:

The definition of a targeted organizational vision by the top management team before the implementation of ERP promotes a stronger cross-functional perspective of the firm.

Table 5 shows that H2 was supported for the overall sample and for SMEs, but not for large firms. The effect of the top management team's involvement in defining an organizational vision seems critical in SMEs. Our interpretation is that the smaller size and centralized management of SMEs helps to overcome the critical distance between functions and the political difficulties more commonly found in large firms. In the two small firms, a clear organizational vision was present from the conception of the ERP project. The objective stated by top management was to create an integrated database accessible to all departments. This integration objective, in turn, necessitated a large organizational scope. This included all cross-functional and core processes: production, contracts and sales, logistics, purchasing, accounting, and financial management. This choice enables a crossfunctional overview of the firm.

For the two large firms, a clear organizational vision was initially absent. At Renault, we noticed a lack of engagement on the part of top management in the conception and design of the future organization throughout its SAP implementation. This situation contributed to the deviation from the project targets-not only in budgetary terms, but also in terms of project objectives and timelines. It also led to the absence of a cross-functional vision on the part of Renault's ERP users. Due to insufficient top management engagement, the various functional project leaders increasingly ignored key organizational issues when implementing SAP (e.g., definition and boundary drawing of the processes, the degree of cross-functionality, formalization of hierarchical power) that required their effort and involvement, such as deliberate reductions to financial, technical, and time-related constraints. This "functional" approach, limited to the problems of each business function, diluted the project and reduced it to the simple task of technical automation. Renault missed out on the integration potential of its SAP system and this contributed to the "fencing in" of the organization, taking root in an out-dated method of working, and extending old practices defined by a vision limited to local interests and concerns.

In the case of Air France, the vision and design of the future organization was also unclear at the start of the project. The organizational vision for SAP was limited to financial services only, before it was broadened by top management, advised by the editor skills center, to include the other services and supports (i.e., human resources and part of industrial maintenance). The lack of an overall vision of the future can be explained by the initial emphasis on financial processes alone. The subsequent broadening of the organizational scope was the result of the top management team eventually performing the required role of organizer and visionary.

H3: Greater coverage of core functions of the company promotes a stronger cross-functional perspective of the firm.

Table 5 shows that H3 is supported for the overall sample and for SMEs, but not for large firms. Cross-functionality can not arise from ERP without a significant number of ERP modules implemented. However, it seems that a key difference between SMEs and large firms is that SMEs are really integrating their core functions with ERP in order to achieve more flexibility. Gruau and RBL chose wide functional coverage and implemented both core modules (production, logistics, and sales) and support modules (finance). This characteristic can be explained both by their goal of attaining flexibility and by the lower degree of structural complexity inherent in SMEs. The implementation of nearly all ERP modules allowed users to have a better view of interdependent information flows driven by ERP, creating a more cross-functional view of processes. 3

For large companies, organizational complexity linked to specificity of core functions brought them to implement primarily the ERP support modules (accounting and finance). Large firms might have a larger scope of integration including interorganizational issues [START_REF] Laukkanen | ERP System Adoption: Does the Size Matter?[END_REF], but in our survey they had mostly begun implementing ERP modules in support functions. Air France and Renault started their SAP project with implementing purchasing and financial modules. We observed that in both large companies, each manager overseeing a core business function had to focus on the specific nature of his/her task in order to justify specific developments or the use of other applications [START_REF] Brehm | Tailoring ERP Systems: A Spectrum of Choices and their Implications[END_REF]. In doing so, large companies encounter major difficulties in building a coherent IS due to lack of coverage for core functions.

H4: Faster implementation promotes a stronger cross-functional perspective of the firm.

Table 5 shows that H4 was supported for the overall sample and for SMEs, but not for large firms. The reason is clear when we compare the changes at Air France, Renault, and Gruau. In opting for a big bang implementation, Gruau managers noticed the evolution from a functional organization to a new matrix-based organization. Conversely we noticed a lack of cross-functional vision from the users in the two large firms, Air France and Renault, where the project was marked by a specific "phasing in" and compartmentalization of the ERP support modules. In each case, the firm's choice of SAP occurred following requests from accounting managers to replace old systems and tools. Following this, the purchasing managers expressed their desire to obtain new systems to back-up their processes, and subsequently, IT management got involved in order to ensure that SAP R/3 was adopted. The scope of integration became progressively broader in both large companies with the installation of CO and HR SAP modules at Air France and Renault, respectively. SAP implementation was conducted progressively, with different modules having separate and independent completion dates. Two significant lessons characterize the SAP projects from our large case study firms. First, the choice to modernize accounting and purchasing IS was the result of individual action and shows the lack of communication and coordination across business units. Despite the fact that large companies have fewer problems of project participation of the different functions, relative to SMEs [START_REF] Laukkanen | ERP System Adoption: Does the Size Matter?[END_REF], there is still a compartmentalized type of layout. Second, a structure to back up the coherence of project management with a low integration factor. This structure relies on a SAP program manager with responsibility for overall coordination of the three subprojects and an SAP "competence center" whose role is to ensure technical coordination.

The details of coordination were achieved in each project: meetings were organized to answer cross-functional questions and steering committees met each month to approve various decisions. But in the absence of organizational systems to oversee the mobilization and coordination of different participants involved in the SAP project, the various subprojects evolved autonomously and the participants focused primarily on their own functional domains and largely ignored what was happening in the other subprojects. The cross-functional dimension of the SAP implementation was absent from the start; as a result, the potential integration benefits of SAP remained limited, at best.

Conclusion

This research explored the concept of cross-functionality, its measurement and antecedents. Organizational context and implementation strategies are important factors to understand ERP effects on cross-functionality. All four of our hypotheses were supported in SMEs but not in our sample of large firms. The results demonstrate that firm size is an important moderating factor that should be taken into account in ERP research. Therefore, these findings contradict conventional wisdom that streamlining horizontal process with ERP systems will facilitate users' perceptions of cross-functionality [START_REF] Mckeen | Making IT happen: Critical Issues in IT Management[END_REF].

However, some limitations of our study can be grouped under two headings. First, our sample size (100 companies), while comparable to many survey studies that have been published internationally on ERP outcomes, is still low for SMEs; we could also distinguish between small and medium companies. Second, our results require more thorough explanation. We examined cross-functionality in our survey from the perspective of a single respondent. Future research should examine ERP outcomes from multiple stakeholder perspectives, although we achieved this in our case studies, to some degree.

Given these limitations, we have shown that there are fundamental differences in ERP implementation between large firms and SMEs, both in terms of ERP implementation strategy, the firms' primary objectives, and the likely outcomes, in terms of crossfunctionality. As conventional wisdom suggests, an ERP is really a tool that fosters cross-functionality and eliminates functional silos, but apparently only in SMEs. Cross-functionality seems to occur when several ERP core modules are implemented, whereas, at least in large, French firms, the ERP implementation seems to start by implementing ERP support modules [START_REF] Besson | ERP Project Dynamics and Enacted Dialogue: Perceived Understanding, Perceived Leeway, and the Nature of Task-Related Conflicts[END_REF]. Cross-functionality it is also influenced by other implementation conditions. If potentially appropriate to Western cultures [START_REF] Liang | Coping with ERP-Related Contextual Issues in SMEs: A Vendor's Perspective[END_REF], a radical implementation approach (characterized by speed and broad functional scope) requires a clear, future vision for the organization. However, in large firms, even when senior management creates this vision and implements ERP core modules, this may not be sufficient to promote cross-functionality. We argue that this is not surprising in large firms (which are often much more complex), and where cross-functionality requires much more than just IS. In such large, complex firms, there is a special need for opportunities that facilitate social interactions, which provide the lateral capacity for information flow (Galbraith 1994, p. xviii) and the capability for coordinating activities effectively [START_REF] Tsai | Social Structure of 'Coopetition' Within a Multiunit Organization: Coordination, Competition, and Intra-Organizational Knowledge Sharing[END_REF]. Given these limitations in large, complex organizations, the conditions necessary for developing cross-functionality still require further research. Finally, there is a consensus, both among professionals and in the literature, that cross-functionality can offer several benefits. This could also be challenged depending on organizational context.

1

  Figure 1. Research Model

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 2005 Twenty-Sixth International Conference on Information Systems

  Gallivan et al. demonstrate clearly that widespread innovation can be implemented gradually and more widely than one might think and can even justify (depending on the context) cases that combine scope and speed of change in novel ways. Thus, we are led to question what ERP implementation strategies are best suited to different scenarios and different organizational goals, and whether different strategies should be used for SMEs and large firms. Furthermore, we consider whether more radical implementation strategies enhance cross-functionality.

Table 1 . Case Study Characteristics

 1

				ERP		Number of
		Sector	Size	Vendor	Project Period	Informants
	Air France	Air Transport	72,000	SAP	October 1999-April 2003	34
	Renault	Automotive	140,000	SAP	February 1998-October 2000	6
	Gruau	Customized vehicles	800	Baan	February 1996-January 1997	11
	RBL	Plastics industry	140	MFG Pro	July 2000-January 2001	10

Table 2 . Respondents' Profiles Respondents Profiles Number of Respondents

 2

	Large Firms	SMEs

Table 3 . Frequencies of the First Main Goals for ERP Adoption

 3

		Overall Sample	SMEs	Large Firms
		(n = 100)	(n = 55)	(n = 45)
			Not		Not		Not
		Selected %	Selected % Selected %	Selected % Selected %	Selected %
	Flexibility goal	47	53	53	47	40	60
	Modernization of IS	43	57	26	74	64	36
	Reorganization of processes	48	52	43	56	53	47

Table 4 . Frequencies of the Core Modules Variable

 4

	Core modules	0	1	2	3	4	T o t a l

Table 5 . Results of Hypothesis Testing ANOVA for Categorical Predictor Variables and Pearson's Correlation for Continuous Predictor Variables

 5

	Dependent
	Variable
	Independent
	Variables		Cross-Functionality
	Overall Sample	SMEs	Large Firms
		(n = 100)	(n = 55)	(n = 45)
	Flexibility [F-value]	3.868	6.540*	.029
	Organizational vision [F-value ]	8.625**	10.457**	1.155
	Speed [F-value]	7.245**	7.163**	.376
	Core modules [Pearson correlation (r)]	.336***	.358***	.272
	Legend: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001

Table 6 . Cross-Functionality and Correlation with Scope According to Speed, Organizational Vision, and Size

 6

		Big Bang/	Progressive/	Big Bang/	Progressive/
	Speed/Organizational Vision	Yes	Yes	No	No
	SMEs
	Sample Size (n)	23	8	8	12
	Mean for cross-functionality	8.74	7.74	7	5.08
	Pearson Correlation (r) [Core module]	0.211	0.723**	0.677	0.162
	Large firm
	Sample Size (n)	10	17	6	10
	Mean for cross-functionality	7.20	6.65	6.17	5.60
	Pearson Correlation (r) [Core module]	0.497	0.259	0.948**	-0.078
	Legend: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01

Table 7 . Results of Multiple Regression Analysis

 7

	Overall sample	SMEs	Large firms

Table 8 . Results of Case Studies

 8

	Case Studies	Principal Characteristics
	Air France	Objective: reduce the number of applications and modernize IS.
		Scope: core functions (control operating)/support functions (accounting, purchasing, Human
		Resources)
		Team project by function and module
		Step by step implementation
		BPR and modification of management procedures (Purchasing & Control Operating)
	Renault	Objective: get a single database in support functions
		Scope: core functions (no)/support functions (accounting, purchasing, Human Resources and
		control operating)
		Team project by function and module
		Step by step implementation
		BPR and modification of accounting procedures; many difficulties during post-implementation
		period
	RBL	Objective: improve IS flexibility
		Scope: core functions (production & stock)/support functions (control operating, accounting,
		purchasing, sales)

-Twenty-Sixth International Conference on Information Systems

-Twenty-Sixth International Conference on Information Systems