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To investigate the distribution and, possible sources of soil heavy metals and the effects of anthropogenic cultivation activities on the contents of these metals in purple hilly regions of China, samples of soils and parent materials in purple hilly regions of China were collected before and after land consolidation and after 7 and 19 months of intensive agricultural production, and contents of Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni, Hg, and As were analyzed. The results showed that, in the soil samples compared with the parent materials, the greatest accumulation of Cd, As, and Hg occurred in surface layer and a few other horizons. Furthermore, the Cd and Hg contents showed the largest differences among different soil horizons. Parent materials played an important role and anthropogenic cultivation activities greatly affected the soil heavy metals. Under traditional agriculture, Pb, Cd, and Hg had higher contents in surface paddy soils than in surface dry land soils. Land consolidation induced the homogenization of heavy metal elements and dramatically reduced Cd and Hg in the surface soils. The As and Hg contents in the surface soils increased after 19 months of intensive agricultural production. Multivariate statistical analysis (correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA)) showed that all eight metals were well represented by the first two principal components (PCs). PC1, which showed relatively high loadings for Cr, Zn, Cu, Ni, and As, was associated with parent materials and therefore represented natural sources. PC2 showed relatively high loadings for Pb, Cd, and Hg, reflecting the effect of air pollution under traditional agriculture, and showed relatively high loadings for Cd, Hg, As, and Pb, reflecting the effect of fertilization under intensive agriculture. This study provides guidelines for the prevention of soil heavy metal pollution and the remediation of polluted soils in purple hilly regions of Sichuan Basin, China.