Chains

Chains are used in the database when you want a field to be attached to another field instead of an item. An example is the interpretation subform which contains a piece of text, a date and an action. The text-type 'interpretation' will be attached to the item and the date and action will be attached to the piece of text.

The tables in this image are a very simplified schematic of how the data will be stored in ARK. You can see that a chain uses a different table rather than an itemkey as the itemkey for a data fragment. This example shows data the could be displayed as

Pottery classification

Assemblage	Class	Count
1102	Black Gloss Ware	3
1103	Black Gloss Ware	1
1102	Archaic Fine Ware	2