diff --git a/benchmarks/bench_populated_delete.ts b/benchmarks/bench_populated_delete.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..16a09a6df2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/bench_populated_delete.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+// Benchmark: delete/re-add churn on a POPULATED object — the cache/dictionary
+// pattern (`delete obj[k]; obj[k] = v` with k rotating over resident keys).
+//
+// Measured 2026-08-29 (16-core Linux host, node v26.8.1, N = 200_000,
+// 500 resident keys):
+//
+//   node        37 ms
+//   perry   ~8_000 ms        (~200x)
+//
+// This is EIGHT TIMES worse than the 0<->1-key delete oscillation
+// (`bench_dynamic_property_keys`' delete loop, ~25x after #8936), because the
+// churn cost scales with the RESIDENT key count: every iteration pays a
+// 500-element keys-array clone on the delete, a second clone on the re-add
+// (appending to a shared array), two layout rebuilds, two shape-descriptor
+// mints (with `ShapeFacts` hashing and reverse-index maintenance), and a
+// 500-slot value shift. O(resident keys) per delete, with large constants.
+//
+// A delete-transition memo (V8-style back-transitions keyed on the keys
+// array's ADDRESS) was built and measured against this benchmark: it was a
+// WASH, twice, in drift-cancelling interleaved A/B pairs — with rotating keys
+// each delete+re-add changes the shape, so the next delete is a fresh
+// (shape, key) pair and address-keyed memoisation never converges. It was
+// deleted rather than shipped. The structural fix needs a content-stable
+// shape identity (facts independent of the keys array's address), so that
+// equal key-sets reuse one canonical shape regardless of which clone produced
+// them — that is a shape-interning change, not a cache.
+const o: Record<string, number> = {};
+for (let i = 0; i < 500; i++) o["k" + i] = i;
+let s = 0;
+const N = 200000;
+const t = Date.now();
+for (let i = 0; i < N; i++) {
+  const k = "k" + (i % 500);
+  delete o[k];
+  o[k] = i;
+  s += o[k];
+}
+console.log("popdel_ms=" + (Date.now() - t) + " chk=" + (s % 7));