diff --git a/trie/archiver.go b/trie/archiver.go
index 32b2eae711..34d3bd89b8 100644
--- a/trie/archiver.go
+++ b/trie/archiver.go
@@ -283,6 +283,11 @@ func (a *Archiver) nodeHeight(n node, path []byte, owner common.Hash, maxHeight
 		}
 
 	case *fullNode:
+		if maxHeight <= 0 {
+			// No depth budget left: a fullNode always has at least one
+			// child, so its height is >= 1, i.e. already > maxHeight.
+			return maxHeight + 1
+		}
 		maxH := 0
 		for i, child := range n.Children[:16] {
 			if child == nil {
@@ -294,9 +299,6 @@ func (a *Archiver) nodeHeight(n node, path []byte, owner common.Hash, maxHeight
 			case valueNode:
 				childHeight = 0
 			case hashNode:
-				if maxH+1 > maxHeight {
-					return maxHeight + 1
-				}
 				childHeight = a.probeHeight(owner, childPath, common.BytesToHash(c), maxHeight-1)
 			default:
 				childHeight = a.nodeHeight(c, childPath, owner, maxHeight-1)
diff --git a/trie/archiver_test.go b/trie/archiver_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..938081ae6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/trie/archiver_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+// Copyright 2026 go-ethereum Authors
+// This file is part of the go-ethereum library.
+//
+// The go-ethereum library is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// The go-ethereum library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+// GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+// along with the go-ethereum library. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+package trie
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common"
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/core/rawdb"
+)
+
+// TestProbeHeightFullNodeBranch is a regression test for an over-estimate bug in
+// nodeHeight's *fullNode case. The previous guard
+//
+//	if maxH+1 > maxHeight { return maxHeight + 1 }
+//
+// fired once the running max height reached maxHeight via one child, so the next
+// hashNode child made a genuine height-3 branch report as height 4. Combined with
+// the "archive only height == 3" predicate, dense branch-heavy tries (notably the
+// account trie, whose height-3 nodes are all multi-child branches) archived
+// nothing. Pre-fix probeHeight returns 4 here; post-fix it must return 3.
+//
+// The trie built below has a height-3 ROOT branch:
+//
+//	root  (branch @ nibble0, children at 0 and 1)            height 3
+//	 ├─ child0 (branch @ nibble1)  ├─ leafA ├─ leafB         height 2
+//	 └─ child1 (branch @ nibble1)  ├─ leafC ├─ leafD         height 2
+//
+// Values are 40 bytes so leaves are NOT embedded; root's children are hashNodes,
+// which is exactly what exercises the buggy branch of nodeHeight.
+func TestProbeHeightFullNodeBranch(t *testing.T) {
+	big := func(b byte) []byte { return bytes.Repeat([]byte{b}, 40) }
+
+	tr := NewEmpty(nil)
+	keys := [][]byte{
+		{0x00, 0x11, 0x11, 0x11}, // nibbles 0,0,...
+		{0x01, 0x22, 0x22, 0x22}, // nibbles 0,1,...
+		{0x10, 0x33, 0x33, 0x33}, // nibbles 1,0,...
+		{0x11, 0x44, 0x44, 0x44}, // nibbles 1,1,...
+	}
+	for i, k := range keys {
+		if err := tr.Update(k, big(byte('A'+i))); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("update %x: %v", k, err)
+		}
+	}
+	root, nodes := tr.Commit(false)
+	if nodes == nil {
+		t.Fatal("nil node set after commit")
+	}
+
+	// Persist the committed nodes under account-trie path keys so the archiver's
+	// raw-DB reader (readNodeBlob -> ReadAccountTrieNode) can resolve them.
+	raw := rawdb.NewMemoryDatabase()
+	for path, n := range nodes.Nodes {
+		if n == nil || len(n.Blob) == 0 { // skip deletions
+			continue
+		}
+		rawdb.WriteAccountTrieNode(raw, []byte(path), n.Blob)
+	}
+	a := &Archiver{db: raw}
+
+	if got := a.probeHeight(common.Hash{}, nil, root, 3); got != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("probeHeight(height-3 root branch) = %d, want 3 "+
+			"(a height-3 branch must be detected as height 3, not over-estimated)", got)
+	}
+}