The papyri excavated are historically significant in that they come from the same place and time, all dating from the period between the reign of Diocletian and the 370s.[11] Also, with Karanis being a relatively poor town, the documents and artifacts excavated "[provide] a microcosm of life as it was lived by ordinary people in Egypt under Greek and Roman rule," and provide evidence of the whole of Egypt’s relationship to the Empire of Rome.[12] The papyri contain mostly tax records, which is how archaeologists have determined that Karanis and its veterans were mostly poor, self-sufficient farmers who did not have much contact with other towns in the region.[13]