Abstract: The paper aims to study the distribution of heavy metals in soil profiles around silver polymetallic mining area, the contents and vertical distribution of Cu, Cd, Hg, Zn, Pb, Ni, As, Cr in 10 profiles of the agricultural fields near a silver polymetallic mining area in Zhongbao, the west of Fujian Province, were investigated. The origin of the heavy metals in the profiles was also discussed. The results showed that the contents of Cu, Cd, Hg, Zn and Pb in the soil declined with profile depth. Cu, Cd and Hg were apparently accumulated in surface layers while Pb and Zn were only slightly accumulated in the surface. On the contrary, As and Cr tended to increase with the increase of depth. Ni was evenly distributed in the profiles. The average contents of Cu, Cd and Hg in the surface layer were above the limits for acidic agricultural soils stipulated in China Environmental Quality Standards of Soil (GB 15618-1995) whereas those of the other heavy metals were below the limits. The comprehensive pollution index of the heavy metals in the surface soils was higher than 1,indicating that the surface soils suffered slight compound pollution. Cu and Cd were mainly originated from the mining activities of silver polymetallic mine while Hg was related to the folk metallurgy