Tuck said the findings would be published later this year and described working on the project as a “real privilege”.
“When I’m in the field and I find something, a piece of pottery or something else, I feel a real connection to the people who made it and used it,” he said.
“It’s almost like they’re standing next to me in the landscape.”
He added: “There’s all this incredible stuff just down there.
“It’s been stable in the ground, in some instances for thousands of years, and been perfectly happy.
“Now we’ve taken it out I think we’ve got a great duty to look after it.”
The collection will now be preserved for future generations at Leeds Discovery Centre.
Kat Baxter, Leeds Museums and Galleries’ curator of archaeology, said: “What makes this such a fascinating archive is its sheer scope and scale.
“What we can see is a snapshot of different people and communities who have been in this part of Leeds over thousands of years.”