The simplest way I can think of:
  1. use 2 tables (assuming mysql here, adjust as necessary): 
    create table d_table (
  d_table_id integer unsigned auto_increment primary key,
  table_name varchar(32) not null.
  d_happened timestamp not null,
  operation enum('insert','update','delete') not null,
  index (table_name, d_happened)
);

create table d_field (
  d_field_id integer unsigned auto_increment primary key,
  d_table_id integer unsigned not null,
  field_name varchar(32) not null,
  old_value text not null,
  unique index (d_table_id, field_name)
);

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  2. For table inserts, simply note the insert: 
    $dbh->do("INSERT INTO d_table table_name = ?, operation = 'insert'", $
+table_name);

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  3. For table updates and deletes, run something like: 
    my $old_data = $dbh->selectrow_hashref("select * from 
table_to_change where primary_key_id = ?", $table_row_id);

## update the table

$dbh->do("INSERT INTO d_table table_name = ?, operation = 'insert'", $
+table_name);

my $d_table_id = $dbh->selectrow_array("select last_insert_id()");

foreach my $f (@updated_field_names) {
  $dbh->do("INSERT INTO d_field (d_table_id, field_name, old_value) VA
+LUES (?, ?, ?)",
           $d_table_id, $f, $old_data->{$f});

}

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    I leave the changes needed for a delete as an exercise to the dear reader :)
Using this general scheme you should find it fairly easy to recapture the state of your database at any time during its existence.

Notes: