History tracking in databases

Hi,

I am trying to develop a relational database for a project at work.
Currently we are at the logical design phase for this database.
The database structure is very hierarchical due to the data requirements
of the project.
As part of the design requirements, the database must provide means of
tracking historical data. This is further explained below:

Say you have a CRATE (CRATE1) which can contain smaller BOXes (BOX1,BOX2
etc.)

CRATE1 is related to BOX1 and BOX2.

Each BOX contains information specific to itself.

Say BOX1 information was changed for some reason but we would still like
to know the previous information for BOX1.

CRATE1 is now related to BOX1,BOX1(old),BOX2

Question: How would this kind of relationship be implemented in an RDBMS?

Thanks in advance for any advice given.

H.Quan

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