10. A computer-implemented method for locating data within a data store, the method comprising: accessing a hierarchical data store, the hierarchical data store comprising a plurality of contexts arranged in a hierarchy of contexts of at least two levels, each context storing at least one of a link to another context or a data object, and wherein at least one context of the plurality of contexts stores a link to a sibling context in the hierarchy; obtaining a query for a data object, the query identifying the data object to be sought within the hierarchical data store, a start context within the hierarchy of contexts at which to start searching for the sought-for data object, and a navigation strategy identifying a direction for searching within the hierarchy of contexts beginning with the start context; searching the contexts of the hierarchical data store according to the navigation strategy beginning with the start context for the sought-for data object; and returning the sought-for data object in response to the query upon locating the sought-for data object in the hierarchical data store.
13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: specifying an ascending navigation strategy in the query; and searching upward through the hierarchical data store for the sought-for data object starting at the start context.