Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates optimizing data within a data storage system while preserving provenance information for the data. During operation, the system receives a first data triple comprising a first subject, a first predicate, and a first object. Next, the system determines a provenance of the first data triple, wherein the provenance facilitates determining the source of the triple. The system then creates one or more first provenance triples comprising the provenance of the first data triple. Next, the system creates a first bridge triple comprising a first context, a “hasProvenance” predicate, and the first provenance, wherein the first bridge triple relates the first context to the first provenance. Finally, the system converts the first data triple into a first quadruple comprising the first subject, the first predicate, the first object, and the first context.