The project's goal is to develop a means of detecting and identifying volatile and semivolatile compounds that migrate upward to the soil surface from buried human remains. As part of this effort, this paper describes the development of the Decompositional Odor Analysis Database, which identifies chemicals associated with the decomposition of buried human remains. The project focused on burials in hastily dug, shallow graves typically associated with the efforts of homicide offenders to hide the bodies of their victims. The database contains a record of the volatile chemicals as they are produced near the body and follows their migration upward through the soil column to the soil surface. The compounds in the database are organized into eight separate classes with specific chemicals assigned to their respective classes. Because of the magnitude of the database, only those chemicals considered to be the most significant in the decomposition process are discussed in this paper. The project consisted of the burial of four cadavers in graves of various depths in a secluded, open-wooded area of ARF-owned land in Knoxville, TN, which is located in a temperate region of the country. During burial, a system of pipes was placed below and above the bodies, with capture/sampling hoods at the soil surface above the grave to facilitate sampling with sorbent traps. Air samples were collected on sorbent traps at various intervals, yielding 374 samples for inclusion in the database. In-ground and in-corpse thermocouples allowed for the accurate below-ground temperature recording. The morphological state of decomposition was monitored through viewing ports placed around and within the corpses during the burial process. This paper describes subject selection, the triple sorbent traps, the sampling tubes for the graves, the sampling hoods, viewing tubes, chemicals used, instrumentation, data reduction, and incorporation into the MS Access database. The research identified 424 specific volatile chemicals liberated in the course of decomposition. These compounds were exposed to many factors, including barometric pressure, partial pressure oxygen atmospheres (burial), rainfall (moisture), soil binding, temperature changes, and an acidic environment, all of which may affect their rate and direction of migration through the soil column. None of these factors were controlled in order to simulate a real-life scenario. A table shows the possible environmental influences on the appearance of compound classes at the grave surface for soft tissue burials within the first year of decomposition. This research is the first step toward the identification of an "odor signature" unique to human decomposition with projected ramifications for cadaver dog training procedures and the development of field portable analytical instruments that can be used to locate human remains buried in shallow graves. 7 tables, 2 figures, and 28 references