［Purposes］ This study aims at investigating the adaptability of absolute principal component score-multiple linear regression (APCS-MLR) model in sediment heavy metal source analysis, revealing the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of heavy metals in lake sediments, and elucidating the sources of heavy metals in lake sediments. ［Methods］ In this study, a total of 160 samples from four sediment columns from the mouth of Yuanjiang River to the center of West Dongting Lake were collected for ²¹⁰Pb isotope dating and heavy metal elemental analysis. The sources and absolute contributions of heavy metal(loid)s were quantitatively resolved by using the APCS-MLR model based on traditional multivariate statistical analysis. ［Findings］ The results showed that the contents of heavy metal(loid)s showed obvious changes in the horizontal direction from the estuary to the center of the lake. Specifically, the average of As and Cd decreased, while that of Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn decreased firstly and increased subsequently. In the vertical distribution, the contents of heavy metals tended to increase relatively from the surface to the middle layer, and then presented a relatively consistent fluctuation as the depth increased. The results of sediment source analysis showed that the absolute contribution of natural sources of heavy metals in sediments from the bottom to the surface layer showed a decreasing trend, and the absolute contribution of anthropogenic sources generally increased and exceeded the absolute contribution of natural sources. Among them, the sources of Cd were most influenced by human activities, and the absolute contributions of estuary and lake center lake were 28.77% and 69.35%, respectively. ［Conclusions］ The absolute contribution of human activities to the source of heavy metals in sediments of West Dongting Lake has gradually increased in the past hundred years, and has become the most important factor affecting the heavy metal content of sediments. Therefore, the APCS-MLR model can be easily and effectively applied to the study of sediment heavy metal sources.