Recent advances in field methods make it possible to obtain high quality compressional (P) and shear (S) velocity data for the shallow subsurface. Environmental and engineering problems require new methods for interpreting the velocity data in terms of sub-surface soil distribution. Recent advances in laboratory measurement techniques have provided high quality velocity data for soils at low pressures that can be used to improve interpretation of field data. We show how laboratory data can be used to infer lithology from field data. We use laboratory ultrasonic velocity measurements from artificial soils made by combining various amounts of sand and peat moss.