I doubt that's papyrus--it looks like handmade paper (papyrus is made from the plith of the papyrus plant.) And the box looks like it was made in India. I don't think it's thousands of years old but it's nice.

Here is a link that might be useful: google image for carved Indian box

I looked around in those Indian boxes for a while trying to find something similar. Is this even a "type" of box so I could find similar stuff? Like these kinds of boxes were made in the 1920s to hold letters or... something like that.

Are dragons consistent with indian designs? I have some indian pieces, but they seem to have gods or elephants or horseback riders, and the like... Are the designs the best way to place the piece, or should I be trying to identify the type of wood used?

Sorry if I have a lot of questions, I'm just very ignorant of antiques or whatever you would classify a box like this as.

Try Balinese carved wooden box.

They have dragons :)