How do I access and restore messages from Time Machine?

In 2021, I ran out of space on my Mac and deleted all my old messages but kept them backed up through Time Machine on an external drive. I did not have them backed up through iCloud at this time.

Now, I have the space to store these old messages on my Mac again, and I'm wondering if there's a way to re-incorporate the old Messages back in with all the messages I've sent and received since then, so they show up seamlessly in the messages app.

I'm able to access the old chat.db, and the messages also still exist in the archive folder(s). I want to make sure that in the process of restoring the old messages I don't mess with the recent messages. (I don't want to replace the current messages with the old ones, just want to add).

I'm currently on Sonoma but planning to upgrade soon if that could help the situation. I'm not 100% sure what I was running when I backed up the messages or how to figure that out.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Reloading old Messages into Messages App