diff --git a/core/rawdb/freezer.go b/core/rawdb/freezer.go
index 3d4dc680d..01ad281ac 100644
--- a/core/rawdb/freezer.go
+++ b/core/rawdb/freezer.go
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ func (f *freezer) freeze(db ethdb.KeyValueStore) {
 		var (
 			start    = time.Now()
 			first    = f.frozen
-			ancients = make([]common.Hash, 0, limit)
+			ancients = make([]common.Hash, 0, limit-f.frozen)
 		)
 		for f.frozen < limit {
 			// Retrieves all the components of the canonical block