Abstract
It is diminutive and easily overlooked: a copper charm, one centimeter in diameter, bearing the inscription “No god but Allah” in Arabic. Nonetheless, it is an artifact so exceptional that it has challenged our network of scholars to fi nd an analog for its form and context. The charm is most likely a relic of the mid-eighteenth century, when the fi rst Africans entered central Pennsylvania as slaves, indentured servants, or free men through trading operations and farmsteads, bringing with them their religious beliefs and material culture. While documentation of their Muslim faith exists, the archaeological evidence for their connection to Islam is extremely rare.